Night Forest
by Hannoie
Summary: Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy don't really get a good start. He thinks she's an annoying know-it-all, and she thinks he's a smug jerk. But could discovery tours to the forbidden forest together at night change that? Could they become friends, or even something more? Double POV.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everybody! I'm back with a new fanfic here, and I really love the story in this :) It's about Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy. It's not very creative, I know; I'm hardly the first one to have that idea. However, I want to write about them anyways, partly because I think they could make a cute couple, partly because Ron basically ordered Rosie not to marry him, and hey, who doesn't want to mess around with Ron a bit, right? **

**So I'm going to write this in a little different way. Every moment this story covers, will be covered twice. Every chapter will be divided into two parts telling the same story, but from different POVs. First, Rosie's POV, then Scorpius's. Of course I recommend you to read both parts – that will give you a deeper insight in both of their minds and feelings – but if you just want to read it from Scorpius's POV, or Rose's, it will work just fine.**

**Disclaimer… Unfortunately I'm not the genius who came up with Harry, Hermione, Hagrid, Hedwig, Hogwarts, Hogsmeade… Basically any of those cool people and places beginning with an H. The only thing beginning with an H as I've come up with is my username Hannoie. Of course, neither do I own Rose, Scorpius, Ron or the rest of them who don't have names beginning with an H. It's all J.K Rowling's.**

**Wow, long W/N. Remember to review when you've finished reading! :)**

* * *

**Rose's POV**

* * *

Rose leaned out the window and waved all she could. Her mother and father stood there, waving back, smiling with teary eyes. Rose would miss them a lot, she would. But she was so excited to finally go to Hogwarts, it barely mattered. She had all the books, and a brand new wand. It was 12 inches tall, made of Rowan tree and with a Dragon heartstring core. When she first touched it, it was – it was like the world finally fell into place. When the wand had chosen her, Mr Ollivander had muttered under his breath, something about an unusual combination – Rowan and Dragon. Perhaps it was – she knew little of wand woods and cores.

When she sat down again, her hair a little tousled, the boys gave her an embarrassed smile.

"Hey, Rosie… It's too bad you're not a boy, because I really need to have a boy's talk with Albus", James said.

"Yeah…" Albus agreed. "Maybe we'd let you stay if you'd been our sister, but… James want to tell me secrets no girl really should know… You know?" Rose rolled her eyes. She didn't really care. In fact, she was almost happy. Several hours in a small space next to James could be more than a little annoying, and if she found somewhere else to sit, maybe she'd make some friends.

"Fine. Idiots. I'll leave, and you can talk all you want about 'secrets no girl really should know about'. Happy?" Her cousins completely missed the sarcasm in her last word, and both of them grinned excitedly.

"Thanks, Rosie!" Al said, with enthusiasm.

"Yeah, that's really sweet of you, Rosie. By the way, I think you could sit with Victoire. I'm sure she has some place in her coupe, don't you think?"

James could be right, so she left the boys' coupe and walked to the coupe she had seen Victoire enter only a few minutes ago.

Rose opened the door, and was immediately met by the sight of all girls in seventh year there was to be found. Well, maybe not all of them, but the coupe was jam-packed.

"…and then he kissed me! Oh my god, I can't believe how hot he is, and he's such a great kisser…" Victoire suddenly caught sight of Rose, and silenced. Rose blushed when she realised what a bad idea this had been. Of course. James had told them he had seen them kissing, and of course Victoire would tell everybody as fast as she could. To her, it was great news, worth sharing with her friends. Friends of her own age, that is.

"Oh – Rosie. Hi. Aren't you with the boys? Um, stupid question. I mean, why aren't you with the boys?" It was very clear, Victoire had not wanted her to hear what she had just said. Rosie blushed and felt all the other girls' eyes on her.

"Um… They… They threw me out. They had to have a boy's talk, they said. They told me to go here… I will leave. Don't worry about me, every coupe can't be as full as this is… Um, bye." Rose, still blushing, began to back out of the room.

"Rosie, wait!" Victoire suddenly called out. "You can stay here if you want to. I'm sure none of the girls would mind. Right?" she said, and looked around the little coupe with begging eyes. Some of the girls sighed and muttered, but nobody said anything.

"See? Of course you can sit here, if the boys were idiots and threw you out." Her smile was kind, but Rose really didn't want to interfere. It was obvious that none of the girls wanted her there. They wanted to dig deep into the story of Teddy and Victoire snogging, and they knew they couldn't with an eleven-years-old in the coupe.

"No, really, it's fine. I'll find somewhere else to sit. Bye." Before Victoire had any chance to answer her, she was out of there. She began to walk again, listening to the faint sound of voices through the doors, until she finally passed by a door she heard no voices from. She slowly opened it, and for a moment, she thought the coupe was empty. She sighed with relief.

Then, she saw the pale face, with pale grey eyes and pale, blonde hair. She wasn't alone in the coupe – she was in the coupe with Scorpius Malfoy.

Well, it didn't matter. He was already dressed in his Hogwarts robe, and even though he stared at her as if she had done something completely outrageous, he sat down.

"May I sit here?" she asked him the politest way she could, even though she already sat. He tightened up his face a bit before he answered.

"Why would I care?" he asked in a very bored voice.

"Because if I sit here, we will be each other's company for several hours", Rose answered in a slightly irritated voice.

"You're a Weasley, aren't you?" he suddenly asked. Rose wasn't prepared for that question, and for a moment all she could do was stare.

"Well, yes. Why?" she answered in a surprised voice.

"You're a redhead." He looked away, and seemed to consider their conversation as over. Rose wasn't done with him, though.

"Well, so what if I'm a Weasley?" Her angry voice caused him to give her an arrogant glance, before he answered.

"My father says you're a shame to all wizards. That your entire family should've been banned from the school a long time ago." The indifferent tone made her almost angrier than his words, and when she replied, it was in a voice a little bit higher than she'd preferred.

"Did he say Voldemort was a good guy, too?"

"No." After a moment, he continued. "He said killing Voldemort was the only good thing a Potter ever has done. The Weasleys haven't done anything good yet."

"My parents spent their whole seventh year fighting dark magic, so that Voldemort wouldn't be immortal when Harry finally met him. Without my parents, you would probably not have existed."

Scorpius snorted, and turned his face away.

For a few minutes, they neither looked at nor spoke to each other. Rose picked up one of her schoolbooks and began to read. Finally, the silence became too awkward for her to handle, so she opened her mouth again.

"I'm Rose, by the way. Not just a Weasley. Rose." Scorpius looked at her, and gave her a somewhat smug smile.

"I know." A short pause. "I'm Scorpius Malfoy."

"I know", she answered in return. "My father told me to beat you in every test."

"My father told me to never let you win."

"Too bad you will fail." And with that, she opened her schoolbook again, determined not to look away from it until the minute the train stopped.

* * *

When they got off the train, the second to seventh years quickly walked over to the carriages, drawn by the invisible Thestrals. Left was the confused and worried first years, looking around, searching for someone to tell them what to do. Suddenly, Hagrid's warm, husky voice filled the station.

"Firs-years! Firs-years over here!" Everybody looked relieved to hear somebody give them directions, at least until they saw Hagrid himself. Half human, half giant, Hagrid was enormous. His weathered, a little bit wrinkled face, surrounded by black, grizzled hair, was kind and friendly, but it was still something wild about him, something that could make you a bit scared of him if you didn't know him. Rose knew him very well, and she wasn't afraid at all.

"Hagrid! Hi!" she called out, and he immediately looked in her direction.

"Rosie! Welcome ter Hogwarts. An' Al! Come over here and give ol' Hagrid a hug, would yeh?" Albus refused, just as James had refused to give Neville his love, but Rose gladly hugged him. She'd missed her friend, and she knew that she would gain some respect from the other strudents because she dared to hug Hagrid. At least until the others realised how nice and harmless he was.

When the hugging was over, Hagrid led them to the boats. Groups were quickly formed, and left over was Rose, Albus, Scorpius and a girl Rose didn't recognize. A bit unwillingly they, too, formed a group.

* * *

In the boat, Rose introduced herself to the new girl.

"Hi, my name is Rose Weasley. What's your name?" She smiled kindly at the girl, who unsurely smiled back. Scorpius, who sat as far away in the boat as possible, sighed.

"I'm Lucy Grace." Rose smiled again.

"Lucy? That's a lovely name. I don't recognize your last name, though."

"I'm… Muggle-born. I would have been surprised if you had recognized it", she told Rose with a weak smile.

"Well, I guess that explains it." She made sure not to show any particular reaction to her revealing. The muggle-borns had met a lot of discrimination even after Voldemort's death, and Rose would certainly not be one of those being mean to them because of their parents.

"I recognize your name, though. You parents helped Harry Potter to defeat Voldemort, right?" Lucy's question made Rose surprised, but she quickly nodded.

"You've done your homework, I can tell", Rose answered.

"I like to be well-prepared", Luce admitted, a little bit embarrassed.

"Me too", Rose agreed. Scorpius sighed again, and muttered under his breath. Lucy leaned closer to Rose.

"What's his problem?" she whispered, so silent Scorpius wouldn't hear. Rose didn't bother to keep her voice low; he knew exactly what she thought of him already.

"He is bored and annoyed with everybody and everything in this world, and he just wants us to know it." Her harsh words made him snort, which made Rose roll her eyes. Lucy laughed.

"I bet you two don't really like each other, right?" The annoyed look she received from both Scorpius and Rose made her laugh even more.

"Hey, look!" Albus suddenly said. He'd been silent until now, and Rose had almost forgotten he was there. "We're here."

* * *

Person after person was called up to the sorting hat. Rose wouldn't remember much of it later – she was only thinking about if she would get into Gryffindor or not, and how she would tell her parents if she didn't.

She was a bit startled when she heard Scorpius Malfoy's name being called up. M, already?

Scorpius walked up, sat down on the stool and took the hat on. After a couple of seconds, fear crossed his face. It almost looked like he shook his head. After another couple of seconds, "Slytherin" was called out in the room. A relief so strong you could almost touch it colored Scorpius's face as he made his way to Slytherin's cheering table.

Soon afterwards, Albus was called up. He put the hat on, and in almost no time, the hat had sorted him into Gryffindor. He was so happy, cheering with the rest of the Gryffindor table. James cheered louder than anybody else. It was certain now – he would spend his seven years at Hogwarts with Gryffindor.

Finally, as the last first year being called up, her name was heard in the banquet hall.

"Rose Weasley!" Nervously, she walked up, sat down on the stool and put the hat on. The room was silent.

_Now, what do we have here? An interesting mind, an interesting mind indeed. You are brave, and clever, and kind. You wouldn't fit in Slytherin, but you would be a good match in any of the others…_

_Please, Gryffindor. Gryffindor, Gryffindor, please._

_Gryffindor, hm? I don't know about that… I think you would fit better in Ravenclaw…_

_Please, Gryffindor…_

_Now, don't be so obstinate. You'll do great in… _"RAVENCLAW!"

The Ravenclaw table cheered loudly, and Lucy was one of the cheering ones. She had also been sorted into Ravenclaw, but Rose saw no other first year girl among them.

She walked towards the Ravenclaw table, almost in a trance. She glanced at the Gryffindor table. They were silent, and Albus eyes were big and worried. He'd expected her to end up in Gryffindor, and so had she. Now, she would spend her seven years at Hogwarts with Ravenclaw.

It could have been worse, of course. Hufflepuff, or even Slytherin. Ravenclaw was the second best.

She sat down, and was immediately hugged by Lucy.

"I was really afraid I was going to be the only girl in Ravenclaw, it would have been horrible! What would I have done? I would have had a room by myself then, right? How… Lonely. Maybe some people would have liked it, but I've shared room with my sister all my life, it would have been weird to have my own. Especially here, where you're not supposed to have your own room. Oh, as soon as I found out about Ravenclaw, I felt that was the right house for me…" Lucy kept talking, and talking, and talking. Everybody cheered, and said hello, and ate a lot of food, and Rose acted like everything was normal. Like everything was fine. Like she was thrilled to be in Ravenclaw. Like if her mind wasn't somewhere else, repeating her father's words over and over again: _If you're not in Gryffindor, we'll disinherit you. But no pressure. If you're not in Gryffindor, we'll disinherit you. But no pressure. If you're not in Gryffindor, we'll disinherit you. But no pressure._

* * *

**Scorpius's POV**

* * *

"See over there? That's the Potters and the Weasleys. You remember what I have told you about them, don't you?" his father asked.

"Yes, father", Scorpius answered. He remembered. It was their fault his family had lost almost all their good reputation.

"Yes, and the children are Albus Potter and Rose Weasley. Make sure you never let them win."

"Win what?" Scorpius asked, a little bit confused, and immediately gained an irritated glance.

"Anything. Everything. Now get on that train", his father demanded him, before he turned around and walked away a few steps. His mother knelt in front of Scorpius, causing curious looks from the people around.

"Your father is right, you should win", she whispered. "But don't let his hatred for those children's parents colour your feelings for them. Okay?" His mother's words, so unusually soothing and forgiving, made him snort.

"They seem smug, anyways. I wouldn't want to become their friend, even if my dad had wanted me to." His mother didn't answer him, she just stood up again, brushed off her skirt and hugged him.

"Goodbye, Scorpius. Have a nice first year at Hogwarts."

"Yes, I will. Goodbye, mom." And with those words, he entered the train, leaving his parents behind without a second look.

* * *

He found an empty coupe quick enough, and sat down. A few times, the door opened and somebody was about to get in, but when they saw who already sat there, they gasped and went looking for another coupe.

It didn't really bother him. Why would he like to converse with people, people who were possibly about to get sorted into Gryffindor or even Hufflepuff? No, he preferred to be by himself.

The train began to roll, and Scorpius allowed himself a little sigh of relief. Nobody would sit here.

At least that was what he thought, until about two minutes into the ride, when the door suddenly opened again. The Weasley girl, Rose, stepped inside. For a moment, she seemed relieved. Then she saw him, but unlike the others, she didn't turn around and walk out again. She sat down on the opposite seat.

"May I sit here?" she asked in a polite, but still rather unfriendly tone. What a stupid question. She already sat down, and hadn't been magically thrown out yet. Stupid questions deserved stupid answers. Or at least impolite answers.

"Why would I care?"

"Because if I sit here, we will be each other's company for several hours." So that was her reason to ask. Well, he wasn't going to be anybody's company. He decided to change the subject. If he caught her off guard, perhaps she would be surprised enough to fall silent.

"You're a Weasley, aren't you?" he asked, although he knew the answer to that question perfectly well. The change of subject had the desired effect. She was surprised.

"Well, yes. Why?" she asked him. Time to end this conversation.

"You're a redhead." With that, he turned away, hoping she wouldn't pick up the thread again, hoping she would stay silent. She didn't.

"Well, so what if I'm a Weasley?" she asked in an angry voice. Alright, she really wanted to know? Maybe he could make her so angry she'd shut up. He looked at her in the most arrogant way he could.

"My father says you're a shame to all wizards. That your entire family should've been banned from the school a long time ago."

His words obviously did make her furious, but she didn't shut up. Stupid girl.

"Did he say Voldemort was a good guy, too?" Her voice was high – if she'd been a poorly tempered boy, she would have attacked him now. He could tell that she was near the breaking point, and it amused him somewhat. But her question needed an answer, and it wasn't an answer he was happy to utter.

"No. He said killing Voldemort was the only good thing a Potter ever has done. The Weasleys haven't done anything good yet." He added the last only to mess with her, and it worked. If she wasn't going to shut up, then at least she wasn't going to enjoy this converstion.

"My parents spent their whole seventh year fighting dark magic, so that Voldemort wouldn't be immortal when Harry finally met him. Without my parents, you would probably not have existed." Her words made him speechless. What could he answer to that? There was no good answer, so the best thing to do was to pretend he didn't care, and try a new tactic. If he was quit, then maybe she would shut up. So he just snorted, and turned away from her.

For a few minutes, he thought it was actually going to work. She began to read a book, and Scorpius felt relieved. Except for a few moments of amusement, he hadn't enjoyed that conversation more than she had.

Then that stupid girl spoke _again._

"I'm Rose, by the way. Not just a Weasley. Rose." Her words almost made him laugh, and he couldn't suppress a little smile. He knew. He knew too well who she was, and he was tired of her.

"I know." He also knew, that if he didn't tell her his name right away, she would ask. "I'm Scorpius Malfoy."

"I know. My father told me to beat you in every test." She looked determined to do so, too.

"My father told me to never let you win", he answered in an utterly calm voice, and saw anger flash through her eyes again.

"Too bad you will fail." And then, _finally, _she shut up.

* * *

As soon as they were off the train, Rose leapt up to that stupid old half giant, and hugged him.

His father had told him about the half giant. His name was Hagrid. Hagrid favoured everybody whose last name was Potter or Weasley. Hagrid wasn't clever, not at all. And Hagrid would take them to the castle with boats.

The groups formed too quickly – left were himself, a girl he'd never seen before, and _Rose Weasley _and _Albus Potter. _Great.

He sat down in the boat, as far away from the others as he could.

Rose quickly introduced herself to the new girl – Lucy – and Scorpius sighed. He didn't want to listen to girls chattering.

Rose and Lucy seemed to become friends in no time, and soon they spoke like they had known each other for ages. Scorpius sighed again, annoyed with the sound of the two girls.

"Stupid, ignorant girls", he muttered under his breath. The girl stopped talking, and Lucy leaned closer to Rose and whispered something. Rose answered, but she didn't whisper; he could clearly hear what she said.

"He is bored and annoyed with everybody and everything in this world, and he just wants us to know it."

_No, I'm bored and annoyed with you, _he thought.

"I bet you two don't really like each other, right?" Lucy said, laughing. Scorpius gave her an annoyed look, and noticed too late that Rose did exactly the same. Lucy laughed even harder.

_Stupid mudblood_.

He immediately regretted that thought. He really didn't know why he had thought it – he had learned at early age what an awful thing it was to say – or even to think. His mother had told him that the term probably would be punishable in a couple of years, and he fully understood why.

Of course, he would never ever marry a muggle-born, or a Potter or Weasley, but that was because of his father, and not because of his own preferences.

"Hey, look!" Potter's sudden voice was loud in the silence. "We're here!"

_No shit, Sherlock._

* * *

"Scorpius Malfoy!"

His name was called out, and with a smug smile he walked up to the sorting hat and sat down on the stool. He would be a Slytherin, for sure.

_What do we have here? Scorpius Malfoy, indeed. Son of the infamous Death Eater Draco Malfoy. He was easy to sort; one look into his rotten mind and I knew._

_Why would I care about how fast you sorted my dad?_

_Just as egocentric as his father, but perhaps not quite as bad… You see, you're a tricky one to sort. You could do great in Slytherin, but perhaps even greater in Ravenclaw._

_No! No, not Ravenclaw. My dad would kill me. I have to get into Slytherin!_

_Indeed? I have a hard time picturing your father using the Avada Kedavra against his own son – if not because of anything else, so at least because it would be hard to explain your disappearance._

_You know what I mean._

_Yes… But this isn't about your father, it's about you, and where you would fit best. And I think Ravenclaw might could be the place for you…_

_No! Listen to me, you old hat. I will get into Slytherin, no matter what, and a stupid hat like you can't stop me!_

_Then again, maybe your best match is _"SLYTHERIN!" _after all…_

In all his life, he had never been so relieved. He was Slytherin. He belonged to the Slytherin House. Nobody could tell him to go to Ravenclaw, Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. He was Slytherin.

He was congratulated by every Slytherin student at the table, and he was utterly happy. He was Slytherin.

* * *

Potter was sorted into Gryffindor, just as expected. Rose's sorting surprised him, though; she wasn't sorted into Gryffindor, but Raveclaw.

_She looks disappointed, _he thought, _almost afraid. Like I would have looked if I'd been sorted into Ravenclaw._

Then he pushed that thought away.

_Well, that's her family drama, not mine. _

He threw himself over the dinner, starving.

Rose didn't matter. She wasn't important.

She was Ravenclaw.

And he was Slytherin.

* * *

**Woah! That's a chapter if anything! I'm sorry it's so freaking long, I hope you can deal with it :) If it's too long, just tell me and I'll try to make the chapters shorter in the future, or perhaps use one chapter for Rose's POV, and one chapter for Scorpius's.**

**Though I think, that if the story is good, and the writing is good too, a chapter can't be too long.**

**Of course, that leads me to the question; is my story good? I'd love some reviews, please. Nothing is as satisfying as a few words telling you how you've done. If you liked it – please tell me! If you didn't like it – why?**

**See you around for the next chapter!**

**Hannoie**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter nr. 2!**

**Disclaimer: The only things in this story that I own are Lucy Grace and the changes I've done to the Hogwarts Express.**

**Oh, you wonder what changes I've done to the Hogwarts Express.**

**Due to complaints, all glass walls in the Hogwarts Express is now removed, and replaced by solid tree to promote the privacy in the compartments.**

**Yeah, that's right. Sorry for using the word coupe in last chapter :) I've never read Harry Potter in English, so I didn't realise the word I should have used was Compartment. If more of this story unfolds in the train, I'll use the correct word from now on.**

**Remember to review!**

* * *

**Rose's POV**

* * *

_Dad,_

_I'm sorted now, and I'm not Gryffindor. I don't know what to do – I'm Ravenclaw. Were you serious? You said you would disinherit me if I didn't get sorted into Gryffindor. Were you serious? I think you were joking, but what if you weren't? Everybody in our family has always been sorted into Gryffindor, mom too. And now Albus has, but I haven't._

_Am I not brave enough? I can get braver – though it doesn't matter. I'm sorted now._

_Please forgive me. Please dad, forgive me. I'm so sorry for getting sorted into Ravenclaw, I didn't mean to. I asked the sorting hat not to put me in Ravenclaw, but in Gryffindor, but it didn't listen to me. I'm not brave enough._

_Lucy is happy. She is my new friend – we were the only girls sorted into Ravenclaw this year._

_For her sake I'm happy I'm in Ravenclaw, but for myself?_

_It's my fault I didn't get sorted into Gryffindor. Please, please forgive me, or – or I don't know what to do._

_I hope you, mom and Hugo are having a nice time at home. I miss you._

_Love,_

_Rose_

* * *

Her first regular day in school was a Monday. The 1st September had been a Friday, so Rose and Lucy had had all weekend to get to know each other and discover the castle. Because of that, when it was time for their first lesson, they already knew the castle fairly well.

Rose's schedule said their first Monday class was Potions in the dungeons, with Slytherin.

"We have… An awful lot of lessons with Slytherin, don't you think?" Lucy commented. Rose looked at the rest of the schedule, and had to agree. They shared Potions, Transfiguration, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology and Flying with Slytherin, Astronomy and Charms with Gryffindor, and History of Magic with Hufflepuff.

"Yes. I had no idea Slytherin and Ravenclaw was together as much as this!"

"Neither did I… And that's confusing, because I've literally read _Hogwarts: A History_ cover to cover. It mentions almost everything else."

"I've read it several times, too! Then again, perhaps it makes sense. If people knew how much time Ravenclaw and Slytherin spend together, perhaps they would refuse to be sorted into Ravenclaw." Rose's joke made Lucy smile.

"Are you ready to go? I'd hate to get late to my very first class, especially since we've had the weekend to discover the castle. Maybe it would have been acceptable if we'd come the night before and had no idea about how to find the way out of the common room, but we've been here for three days now! And the dungeons are a few floors downstairs, and you know the stairs around here…"

"Lucy!" Rose interrupted her. "I'm ready."

"Okay", she said with a short laugh. "Oh, I babbled, didn't I? I'm sorry, it just happens sometimes." She looked a bit embarrassed.

"Yes, I've noticed", Rose answered with a wry smile.

"Ha ha, very funny. Like you never talk too much", Lucy teased.

Rose put on a faked smug face.

"No, I actually never do. Come on now, or we'll get too late."

"I'm right behind you."

* * *

The dungeons were chilly, and rather scary. Rose and Lucy had seen the entrance to the dungeons before, but they had never had any reason to go there, so they had avoided them.

They had been a little worried that the class would be somewhere deep inside the dungeons, waiting somewhere behind a thousand of possible wrong turns, but when they came downstairs, they saw their classmates almost immediately. They were walking into the classroom. Rose looked at her clock; it was one minute to eight.

"Good timing", she said. Lucy agreed as they hurried to the open door.

As they sat down at an empty bench, the professor, Professor Wing, a long, black-haired, blue-eyed woman, began to take the roll call. When she was done, she started to speak about the class, how it was different from other classes; meaning no spells. How it, if you knew how and when, could be useful in life after school, and so on. Both Rose and Lucy wrote down every word, while Scorpius Malfoy, sitting almost as far away from them as possible, leaned back and was only paying the professor a little attention. He seemed to wake up a bit when she announced that they were going to make a cure for boils today, and the room echoed by the low, excited mumble.

As Lucy and Rose sat next to each other, they were paired together.

The rest of the lesson was used for this simple potion. Simple, yet so many things could go so terribly wrong Rose was amazed. This complex art seemed really interesting, and she already looked forward to her next Potion class: Tuesday afternoon.

When the time was up, the pairs poured the potion in a bottle and gave it to the professor. Rose was happy with the result; it looked exactly the way it was supposed to look. A few times Lucy had been about to make a mistake, but Rose had seen it the last minute, and the potion was safe. Overall they made a good couple.

When the working areas were all cleaned up, and the students stood by their benches, Professor Wing smiled.

"Good work today. Class dismissed." As Rose was making her way towards the door, the professor spoke again. "Not Scorpius Malfoy and Rose Weasley. I'd like you two to stay."

Rose and Lucy exchanged a worried look, before Rose turned around and walked to the professor's desk, followed by Scorpius.

"You two outperformed the others today, very well done."

"Thank you!" Rose said and beamed at the professor.

"Who did best?" was Scorpius's only question. His eyes were like stone, and now that he'd ask, Rose realised she wanted to know too.

"You two were equal, except that Ms Weasley payed a little bit more attention in the beginning than you did, Mr Malfoy. But that is not why I asked you two to stay. You see, since you two are the ones who did best, I'd like to see you as a couple next lesson, and the lessons after that, if the arrangement would happen to give good results."

"What…" Rose was stunned. "What, you're saying that we will be working together from now on?"

"Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying."

"I'm sorry, professor", Malfoy began in what was probably the most subservient voice he could muster, "but I can't work with her. She's a Weasley, you see."

"And he's a Malfoy", Rose filled in.

"Why would that matter?" Her eyes said that she knew exactly why it mattered, but she wouldn't give up until one of them had said it out loud.

"You see, our families aren't exactly friends, and that with good reasons…" Malfoy tried to explain, but Professor Wing interrupted him.

"Mr Malfoy, I'm well aware of your father's stubbornness, but why would that affect your and Ms Weasley's ability to work together?"

"Well… I… I don't like her. She's a know-it-all. How could I possibly work with a know-it-all?" Before Professor Wing had a chance to answer him, Rose broke in.

"What about you, then, you… Smug, ignorant boy!"

"I'm smug? _I'm smug? _You're the one to talk..."

"Mr Malfoy! Ms Weasley! You just lost yourself five points to each of your houses. Now be quiet." The professor's face was angry, but it was the knowledge of the already lost points that really made Rose shut up.

"Clearly, you don't want to work together. Clearly, you can't cooperate. So you will just have to learn. Next lesson you will work together, and you will continue to do so for the rest of the year. Now, you're dismissed."

Rose hurried out of the classroom, tears burning in her eyes. First Ravenclaw, and now this. Her year had not begun well.

* * *

**Scorpius's POV**

* * *

_Dad,_

_I made it into Slytherin. The hat didn't hesitate even for a second, just as it didn't when it sorted you._

_You should be proud of me._

_Scorpius_

* * *

Monday, first period: Potions with Ravenclaw. Professor Wing. The dungeons.

Scorpius cursed to himself. Ravenclaw meant Rose. And there were a lot of classes with Ravenclaw. History of Magic with Gryffindor, Astronomy and Charms with Hufflepuff, and the rest of the lessons with Ravenclaw.

_Why? Because we are more intelligent than the others? _He thought it with sarcasm, but did, after a moment, realise that is was quit a reasonable thought.

Slytherin's common room was in the dungeons already, so he didn't have to rush. Still, he was one of the earliest, and he had to wait several minutes before Professor Wing arrived and opened the door.

The last ones to enter the classroom was Lucy and Rose. Thank God the only empty bench was so far away from him.

As soon as everybody was seated, the professor began to speak about the class, about possibilities… Scorpius mind soon trailed off elsewhere. His father's face when he received the letter. His mother's smile. Malfoy Mansion. He missed it already. Sure, Hogwarts was big and fancy, but the room he had here was nothing to the room he had at home. Here he even had to share.

He didn't really like his roommates. Mark was okay, but the others annoyed him greatly. Tristan and Gregory would be a true pain to share room with for seven years.

"… and today we will make a cure for boils. Scorpius, you will work with Mark. Stacey, you work with…" Scorpius started to pay attention again.

He looked the boil cure up in their Potion book, and he and Mark were one of the first couples to begin.

* * *

At the end of the lesson, he was satisfied with the result. Mark had almost screwed up several times, but since Scorpius had been there to save the situation, nothing bad had happened.

When Scorpius walked next to Mark, towards the exit, he realised that he actually liked this class, and that he was looking forward to the next time they would have it, whenever that was.

Then suddenly, he was called back, and so was Rose.

"You two outperformed the others today, very well done."

"Thank you!" Rose said with an overly joyful voice. She was satisfied with that? To be one of the two best?

"Who did best?" Scorpius asked with cold eyes. He wasn't going to lose, he wasn't.

"You two were equal, except that Ms Weasley payed a little bit more attention in the beginning than you did, Mr Malfoy. But that is not why I asked you two to stay. You see, since you two are the ones who did best, I'd like to see you as a couple next lesson, and the lessons after that, if the arrangement would happen to give good results."

"What… What, you're saying that we will be working together from now on?" Rose sounded chocked. She wouldn't be able to handle a situation like this, so he would have to do it. No way he was going to work with her.

"Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying." Wing smiled a faked smile. Bitch.

"I'm sorry, professor", Malfoy began, and tried to sound as nice and reasonable as possible, "but I can't work with her. She's a Weasley, you see."

"And he's a Malfoy", Rose filled in.

_Thanks for your help, Weasley. Could you please just shut the hell up now? _he thought.

"Why would that matter?" Wing's question made Scorpius narrow his eyes, and he gave her a sharp look. Oh, she knew. She knew that his and Rose's families hated each other, and that it would cause him a lot of unpleasantness if he had to work with her.

"You see, our families aren't exactly friends, and that with good reasons…" Again, to no use, he tried to make her change her mind. She didn't even let him finish speaking.

"Mr Malfoy, I'm well aware of your father's stubbornness, but why would that affect your and Ms Weasley's ability to work together?" So now she insulted his father! Great. And the worst thing was that he didn't have a good answer. She had talked him down, and he hated it.

"Well… I… I don't like her. She's a know-it-all. How could I possibly work with a know-it-all?" He heard how immature it sounded the very moment the words left his mouth. And he should have realised, Rose wouldn't let an insult towards her pass unpunished.

"What about you, then, you… Smug, ignorant boy!" She was furious; so easy to anger. And now Scorpius felt he was getting angry at her too.

"I'm smug? _I'm smug? _You're the one to talk..."

"Mr Malfoy! Ms Weasley! You just lost yourself five points to each of your houses. Now be quiet." Scorpius was boiling inside, but he didn't dare to say another word. Loosing five points his first lesson was bad enough, he didn't want them to become more.

"Clearly, you don't want to work together. Clearly, you can't cooperate. So you will just have to learn. Next lesson you will work together, and you will continue to do so for the rest of the year. Now, you're dismissed."

He walked out of the classroom, thinking only about how much he hated the Potion master for doing this to him. He would never enjoy another Potion class again, and it was all her fault.

He wasn't sure whether "her" in this case was Rose, Professor Wing, or perhaps both.

* * *

**That's chapter nr 2! So what do you think? Rose and Scorpius being paired together in Potions class. That could be risky. We wouldn't want them to blow up the school, would we?**

**Next chapter should be pretty short; a real filler. Nothing important, really, and then we'll make a time jump!**

**But I'm getting ahead of myself. Right now, just review this chapter, tell me what you think :) Is the two POVs still a good idea?**

**See you around for the next chapter!**

**Hannoie**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here comes chapter 3! **

**This one's a real filler, so don't expect any big surprises in this one!**

**You know, disclaimer…**

* * *

**Rose's POV**

* * *

Tuesday morning, an owl she recognized as her father's swept down and dropped a letter on her plate. She opened it in no time, and began to read.

_Rose,_

_Sweetheart, I'm not really sure what to write. I'm not really sure how you could think we would disinherit you if you didn't get sorted into Gryffindor._

_I've heard Ravenclaw is a great house, and I'm sure you will do just fine there. You are intelligent enough, there's no doubt about that._

_What I need you to understand is that the house doesn't define you. You could have been sorted into Slytherin, and you would still have been our sweet, intelligent, lovely girl, just as you've always been._

_We love you just as much, no matter what._

_And honey, you are brave. Even the bravest of us all, I believe. You are the first Weasley ever to get sorted into another house than Gryffindor. You're a pioneer! What is the bravest – to follow the lead of everybody in front of you, or making your own way?_

_So please, forget about what I said at the platform. I won't disinherit you. I was just joking around. You shouldn't take me so serious._

_Have you already made a new friend? Fabulous! I already want to meet this Lucy. What's her last name? Do we know her family? I can't recall any Lucys among our acquaintances – is she muggle-born?_

_I'm sorry, dear. I'm just so happy for your sake. Not everybody is lucky enough to find a friend the first days. You should be proud of yourself._

_Mom and Hugo say hi, and I will await your response._

_Love,_

_Dad_

_P.S. You shouldn't forget about everything I said at the platform. I stick to my opinion about Scorpius Malfoy – you shouldn't get too friendly with him. But don't tell mom I said that. D.S._

When Rose had read the letter, she had to smile. It was just like dad; write a note like that without mom's permission, or even knowledge.

"What does it say?" Lucy wondered, and tried to peek at the paper in Rose's hand. Rose considered the letter for a moment, before she gave it to Lucy. She quickly read through it, before giving it back, laughing.

"Well, the last part won't be that hard. But were you really so worried they would hate you for being sorted into Ravenclaw?" She was serious now, and looked at Rose with deep, understanding eyes.

"No. Yes. I don't know. It's hard to explain. My family… The Weasleys, they are great. We are great. I couldn't have wished for a better family. But… Everybody, and I literally mean everybody, in my family have been sorted into Gryffindor. We're like the Malfoys and Slytherin. We belong in Gryffindor. My dad once told me that when he was going to Hogwarts for his first year, he was scared to death he wouldn't get sorted into Gryffindor, but when he finally put on that hat, it just stated that he was another Weasley, and that it knew what to do with him. Then it put him in Gryffindor. The hat must have known that I was a Weasley, still, it put me in Ravenclaw. Why?" When Rose finally stopped her rambling, Lucy could only stare.

"Wow. I had no idea you took it so serious. And, I don't know why it didn't put you in Gryffindor. But that hat is intelligent. Maybe it predicted the Second Wizarding War, and realised that all the wizards that it thought would play a key role in the war would need strength and courage, including your parents. Maybe the hat thinks you will need your intelligence rather than your courage in the future, and that's why it put you in Ravenclaw." Lucy's explanation was a long shot, but Rose felt a little bit soothed after hearing it, and after reading her father's letter.

Things weren't so bad after all. Rose knew she was brave, and if she was even more intelligent than brave, she was impressed with herself. Lucy was a great friend, the best you could imagine, and the students in Ravenclaw all seemed nice, although sometimes a little eccentric.

The only downside was the upcoming Potion classes, but since that was bad already, it couldn't become much worse. She would spend the Potion classes this year with Scorpius, but that was it, and the rest of the lessons she could simply ignore him.

* * *

When her last Friday lesson was over, she had had her lunch and she was free to go, she stumbled to her room, fell into her bed and stifled a scream with her pillow.

_The only downside was the upcoming Potion classes, but since that was bad already, it couldn't become much worse, _she repeated to herself with sarcasm. How unbelievably naive she had been only a few days ago. How could she have believed it couldn't get much worse? How was it, she had not seen this coming?

It had begun Tuesday morning. She had had Transfiguration, with Slytherin of course. After a rather long passage, Professor Moss had put the students in pairs, and given each pair a match to turn it into a needle.

In the beginning of the lesson, Rose had intentionally sat down as far away from Scorpius as possible, and still they were paired together. How was it possible?

Scorpius failed to transform the match, but Rose's try resulted in something that was indeed sharp and silvery, although maybe not a full-fledged needle. Her success gave Ravenclaw fifteen points.

After Transfiguration, they had Herbology. The task was to, in pairs, replant a harmless plant called Snake's head. Professor Longbottom, Neville, told them that Snake's head was often overlooked in the muggle world, because if it wasn't prepared exactly the right way, it was useless. If it was, however, prepared the right way, it held strong healing powers.

Again, she was paired with Scorpius. During Transfiguration, she had seen upon it as a rather unfortunate event and nothing more, but now she began to wonder.

_Next lesson you will work together, and you will continue to do so for the rest of the year._

She could clearly hear Professor Wing's words in her head. Rose had just assumed that her the professor had been speaking about the Potion class, but what if she had meant all the classes?

Her gasp made Scorpius turn to her with an irritated look in his face.

"What is it, Weasley? Afraid of the Snake's head? Is that why you replant them so slowly?"

"Of course not, Scorpius. I just remembered something I forgot to do this morning", she lied to him. He looked like he was about to say something more, but then he seemed to change his mind. For the rest of the lesson, they worked side by side in silence.

* * *

At the end of the Herbology class she stayed when the rest of the class had left the greenhouse.

"Rose? Is something the matter, my girl?" Neville asked with a concerned voice. She couldn't help but glare at him, even though she knew it probably wasn't his fault.

"Yes. You paired me with Scorpius intentionally, didn't you? Just as we were paired in Transfiguration. It was on purpose, wasn't it?" Her questions made him smile, even though it looked more like a grimace.

"Miss Weasley, you're too intelligent for your own good. Well, yes. We did this on purpose. Partly because you're with no doubt the two most intelligent and competent students of your year – both the teachers and the sorting hat could agree on that – but also because of your parents. It caused an endless amount of trouble for this school, Draco always at Harry, Ron and Hermione's throats, and vice versa. The teacher's agreed that you two had to learn how to cooperate with each other, for all the wizarding world's sake."

"Don't be so dramatic", Rose said and rolled her eyes. As if they would get into a fight big enough to risk the whole wizarding world.

"I'm sorry, but I have to be dramatic. As I think you remember, I am the same age as your parents and Scorpius's father, and the hatred between them caused this school, and the wizarding world as a whole, a lot of damage. I was there to see it, and I won't let it go the same way with you two." Nice, humble Neville looked more determined than she had ever seen him before, and she realised that he took this really serious.

"Professor Longbottom, I can assure you I don't hate him. I don't like him, because he is rather arrogant, but I don't hate him. There is no need to force us together for the rest of the year." She tried to say it diplomatic, reasonable. Still, Neville did nothing but laugh.

"Decision's already made, Rose. I can't do anything about it now, you'll just have to put up with it."

"One year?" Rose asked again with a weak voice. She gulped. This would not be a good year.

"At least one year. If we find it necessary, it will be next year, too, and the year after that." Suddenly he smiled. "You've got to take one for the team, kid. But I can promise you, if Mr Malfoy had been as bad as his father, we wouldn't have put you through this."

"What does it matter if he isn't as bad as his father, as long as he acts as bad as his father?" Rose muttered, and immediately gained a strange look from Neville.

"He doesn't behave as bad as his father did. He is a gentleman, a… Prince Charming next to his dad! I can assure you, if I had had the possibility to grow up in the same year as Scorpius instead of Draco, I would have done it without second thoughts. You can count yourself lucky."

"Lucky me…" And with those words she left the greenhouse, making her way back to the castle. Despite feeling a little nauseous, she was hungry, starving actually. She hadn't had much breakfast this morning, as she had been busy reading Ron's letter.

Ron's letter… It seemed so far away, even though it had only been three hours since she first read it.

* * *

When she had finished her lunch, she walked straight over to the Slytherin table. The people around the table whispered and laughed as she came closer, but she didn't care.

"Hey Weasley, miss me already? I thought you were as happy as I was when Herbology was over. One minute more next to you and your clumsy fingers would have killed me." His words made the other Slytherins laugh, but Rose showed no reaction. They could think whatever they wanted, she didn't care. They were stupid anyways, or they would have been in Ravenclaw.

"Scorpius, I need to talk to you." The rest of the table giggled at her words, and Scorpius grinned smugly.

"After lunch, Wease. Can't you tell I'm not done yet?" He shared looks with his friends, as if he wanted to say: Is she stupid, or what?

"No, now. Unless you want the rest of your week to be an endlessly unpleasant surprise."

"And what if I listen to you now? What will my week be then?"

"Probably still endlessly unpleasant, but at least it won't come as a surprise."

"Whatever, Wease", he said in a bored voice, but he did stand up and follow her out of the Great Hall.

"By the way, don't call me Wease. I'm Rose."

"Why would I stop, Wease?" he asked in a mocking voice. He probably didn't think she would have a good answer to that, but she had already thought of the perfect one.

"Because if you don't stop, I will call you Mal. It's short for Malfoy, but it also means 'ill', 'wrong', 'evil', 'pain', 'disease' and other equally nice things in French. It's your choice."

"Very well… Rose." The words came through clenched teeth, and Rose couldn't help a smug smile. Burned!

When they reached the library, Rose turned around. Scorpius looked utterly annoyed to be there, but it was the best place to talk.

"As you know, we will work together in Potion class", Rose began and Scorpius immediately interrupted her.

"Breaking news. Could you leave me alone now?"

"I wasn't finished", Rose hissed. "When Professor Wing told us that we will have to work together for the rest of the year, she wasn't only talking about Potion class. That's why we worked together during both Transfiguration and Herbology. They have paired us together for the rest of the year." While she spoke, Scorpius seemed to become paler than usual, however that was possible.

"That's ridiculous! I don't believe you. Why would they even do that?" He looked furious, and Rose took a little step backward.

"It's not ridiculous. I spoke to Professor Longbottom about it, and he confirmed it. He said it was because we're the brightest of our year, and because this school can't afford another seven year long fight, like our parents'." As Rose silenced, Scorpius pulled his hand through his blond, silky hair.

Wait, silky? It wasn't silky, was it? She couldn't know, because she had never touched it. She wondered how it would feel between her fingers… No, she didn't want to know anything like that. It was just blond. Period.

"What are you staring at, _Rose_?" he suddenly asked. He said her name as if it was a bad joke, something you would have laughed at if it had been just a little bit funnier. She quickly looked away from his hair, and felt her cheeks burn.

"Nothing, _Scorpius_. I just saw a book behind you as I'd like to read sometime, that's all." He gave her a thorough look, but she looked him dead in the eye, and in the end, he was the one to look away.

"May I continue with my interrupted lunch now?" he finally asked, coldly.

"Sure. I just wanted you to know that we will work together from now on."

"Thank you", he said, even though he didn't sound even the slightest thankful. And with those words, he left the library.

* * *

The rest of the week had not been an improvement. Scorpius had been a real brat, and in the end it had turned out to become a never ending competition. She did a little better in Transfiguration, he outperformed her in Herbology. He was a natural Flyer – she was at her absolute best when it came to Defence Against the Dark Arts. None of them ever made a mistake in Potion class.

Lucy had been very understanding all the time, as she wasn't fond of Scorpius either. He was spoilt, smug and arrogant, after all. And when she didn't feel bad for her friend, she was just happy it wasn't she who had been paired with Scorpius.

* * *

**Scorpius's POV**

* * *

It was Tuesday morning, and Scorpius sat in the Great Hall with Mark, eating a toast. Suddenly the owl post came, and he immediately recognized the snow white owl that belonged to his father. Ice Beak swept down and dropped a letter, and he just managed to catch it before it landed on the toast and got all smeared with jam. He quickly opened it, and read his father's short note.

_Scorpius,_

_I would have been disappointed if the hat had indeed hesitated to put you in Slytherin, even for a second._

_Draco_

When he had read the letter, he quickly burned it. It held no encouraging words, nothing worth preservation. It was only one sentence, and that sentence made him feel guilty. Yes, Scorpius had told his dad that the sorting hat had made its decision about him as fast as it had when Draco had been sorted. Yes, it was a lie. But he couldn't tell his father how the hat had considered Ravenclaw, could he? No, it had to stay a secret, especially from his father. His father was not to find out about that single little mishap, when everything else worked out so perfectly.

Mark, for example. Scorpius would almost consider him a friend by now – and he was a friend Scorpius knew his father would approve of. Mark came from a respected, wealthy pure-blood family from northern Scotland. His only fault was the Scottish accent, otherwise he was a very agreeable boy.

* * *

Tuesday morning brought Transfiguration with Ravenclaw. Their professor was Professor Moss. Oddly enough, Scorpius and Rose was paired together, even though they sat very far away from each other.

Rose came to his bench, sat down, sighed and told him to try first. The task was to transform a match into a needle. Careful not to show his uncertainty, he waved his wand and said the right words, but the match was still a match. He did it again, several times, and still nothing happened. Finally, Rose interrupted him.

"Could I have a try now?" she asked. Scorpius gave her an arrogant look.

"Who stopped you in the beginning?" he asked crossly.

"The knowledge that if I tried at the same time as you, and succeeded, you would take the credit." Her answer annoyed him, but he stopped anyways.

Now Rose tried, and the first few times nothing happened, just as when he had tried. When Scorpius was about to push her away from the match so that he could try again, something actually happened to that match. It became thinner, silvery, and pointy. It almost, almost looked like a needle. Rose squealed in excitement. Professor Moss was there in no time.

"Well done, Rose! Fifteen points to Ravenclaw. Now, if you would be so kind to spend the rest of the lesson explaining to Mr Malfoy how exactly you did, then perhaps he could learn something from it." And with that, she was by the next bench, showing Mark and Gregory what they did wrong when they waved their wands.

This would be a long Transfiguration class.

* * *

Herbology next. Longbottom told them to, in pairs, replant a plant named Snake's head. Apparently it held strong healing powers, but the muggles only had it in the garden because of its beautiful flowers, because they didn't know what to do with it. Stupid muggles.

Again, he was paired with Rose. How was it possible? From now on he would call this Tuesday 'Black Tuesday'. It was truly awful.

Rose wasn't as fast as he was. She was careful and efficient, but not as efficient as he would have preferred. He looked around and realised, that even though she wasn't as good as he was at this, she was still better than the rest of their classmates. Therefore, he stayed silent.

Suddenly, for no reason at all, Rose gasped. Scorpius, who was already annoyed because she worked slower than he did, couldn't help but drop a comment.

"What is it, Weasley? Afraid of the Snake's head? Is that why you replant them so slowly?" he asked, mockingly.

"Of course not, Scorpius", she answered him and looked away. "I just remembered something I forgot to do this morning." She lied. It was something else, even though he doubted it had anything to do with the Snake's head plants. He considered asking her about it, but came to the conclusion that he didn't care enough, and therefore stayed silent.

* * *

When Herbology finally was over, Scorpius was out of there as fast as he could. He and Mark accompanied each other, and Mark immediately began to talk.

"It must be great to work with someone as talented and intelligent as Rose Weasley, isn't it? The only people I get to work with is Gregory and Tristan, and that's awful. They're stupid, and in the end I have to do all the work myself, and if I do something good, they get the credit. If I, on the other hand, do something bad, the teacher assumes it's me who did the mistake. I hate it!" Mark continued to speak, and Scorpius stopped listening after a while. He just made some small sounds of agreement, which was all it took. Mark didn't really babble, but he always seemed to have something new to talk about. Since Scorpius rarely felt the need to talk to people, their friendship worked out just fine.

Mark talked, and Scorpius pretended to listen.

* * *

When Scropius ate his lunch, he looked up from his plate without any particular reason. He caught a glimpse of Rose, eating as fast as she could. When she, only moments later, was finished, she stood up and walked over to his table, the Slytherin table. People around him giggled, and he felt a smug grin spread over his face. If she was going to bother him even during lunch, she would feel humiliated in the process, too.

"Hey Weasley, miss me already? I thought you were as happy as I was when Herbology was over. One minute more next to you and your clumsy fingers would have killed me," he said, in order to make her blush. She seemed completely undisturbed, though, and that impressed him somewhat. Few people from Ravenclaw would be able to stand there, straight, indifferent, as seven year Slytherins laughed at them.

"Scorpius, I need to talk to you." Again, people laughed, and Scorpius almost laughed himself. Why would he end his lunch, still hungry, only because an annoying Ravenclaw wanted to talk to him?

"After lunch, Wease. Can't you tell I'm not done yet?" He looked at Mark, Tristan and Gregory. They were all grinning, and he grinned back. This was almost funny.

"No, now. Unless you want the rest of your week to be an endlessly unpleasant surprise." Endlessly unpleasant surprise? She had his attention now, even though he didn't want to admit it.

"And what if I listen to you now? What will my week be then?" he asked, trying to sound as arrogant as he could. Trying not to sound like he really wanted to know.

"Probably still endlessly unpleasant, but at least it won't come as a surprise." Very well. He would listen to what she had to say, but she had better be fast.

"Whatever, Wease", Scorpius said, and tried very hard not to sound interested.

"By the way, don't call me Wease. I'm Rose", she said. Irritated, again.

"Why would I stop, Wease?" he asked, just because she wouldn't have a good reason. It would be amusing to see her when she tried to come up with something.

"Because if you don't stop, I will call you Mal. It's short for Malfoy, but it also means 'ill', 'wrong', 'evil', 'pain', 'disease' and other equally nice things in French. It's your choice." Scorpius opened his mouth to answer her, but no words came out. There was nothing to say.

"Very well… Rose." The words almost hurt on the way out, but they had to be said, unless he wanted to be called 'evil', 'disease', and 'pain' for the rest of the year.

When they reached the library, Rose turned around. Scorpius quickly put on a mask of boredom and annoyance, so she wouldn't see that he actually was interested in what she had to say.

"As you know, we will work together in Potion class", Rose began and Scorpius mentally facepalmed. Was she bringing that up again? Wasn't it anything else?

"Breaking news. Could you leave me alone now?" Scorpius turned around, eager to get away from there, and to finish his lunch.

"I wasn't finished", Rose hissed, and he turned around to face her again. "When Professor Wing told us that we will have to work together for the rest of the year, she wasn't only talking about Potion class. That's why we worked together during both Transfiguration and Herbology. They have paired us together for the rest of the year." Scorpius felt a wave of doubt and insecurity wash over him. That couldn't be true, could it? He wasn't going to work with her in every lesson, was he? No. No, he couldn't. That wasn't possible, was it?

And suddenly, he was so angry. With Rose, with the professors, with this entire school. He just had to get that kind of anger out of his system.

"That's ridiculous! I don't believe you. Why would they even do that?" He felt the anger in his face, in his voice, in his essence. Rose, who normally seemed so fearless, looked terrified, and she even took a step away from him.

"It's not ridiculous. I spoke to Professor Longbottom about it, and he confirmed it. He said it was because we're the brightest of our year, and because this school can't afford another seven year long fight, like our parents'." Scorpius pulled a hand through his hair, trying to think of a way to get out of this, if it actually was true. Suddenly, he caught Rose staring at him.

"What are you staring at, _Rose_?" he asked her. She quickly looked away, but just a second later, she met his gaze again.

"Nothing, _Scorpius_. I just saw a book behind you as I'd like to read sometime, that's all." Scorpius looked at her as hard as he could, trying to figure out whether she was lying or not. She met his gaze without hesitation, and if it had been a lie, nothing in her face revealed it.

"May I continue with my interrupted lunch now?" he finally asked, his voice just as cold as he had intended it to be.

"Sure. I just wanted you to know that we will work together from now on." Her eyes were cold, too, and calculating.

"Thank you", he said, even though he wasn't thankful. It was only a way to finish the conversation without making Rose mad again.

Second later, he was out of there.

* * *

At the end of the week, Scorpius was just happy it was over. Another lesson of this, and he would've exploded.

The whole week had been a competition between him and Rose. He was the better of the two, he was, but it didn't always show. In Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts, she had… Been lucky. And he hadn't been quite as lucky. Of course, he was still the better of the two, that showed in Herbology and Flying, but it was possible that some people could believe that they were equally good, just because Rose had managed to transform a match into something that reminded of a needle.

The week had been like an endless rollercoaster. It went up and down, down and up, and it made him feel sick. He was glad to have a weekend now, a pause from Rose's constant presence.

Next week would probably be even worse.

* * *

**SO sorry for the late update, guys. This is, in my opinion, the most boring chapter of the story. Boring chapters are boring to write, and that's kind of why it took so long..**

**Well, I guess it did happen one thing or another in this chapter, too. I shouldn't be too surprised – once you let go of the characters, you never know what they will do.**

**So whaddya think? ;)**

**Good? Bad? Why? How?**

**Review! :D**

**See you around for the next chapter!**

**Hannoie**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4!**

**I had no inspiration whatsoever when I wrote the last chapter, but now, when I'm about to start with this chapter, I have a really good feeling. I hope you can tell when you read :)**

**I'm going to jump in time now, so all the characters will be a little bit older, a little bit more mature and so on. Even I am curious to see what has happened with them during the last two years! :D**

**Disclaimer.**

* * *

**Rose's POV**

* * *

It was the first week of Rose's third year. She had been looking forwards to this year, because now she could go to Hogsmeade, and choose two electives.

The choice had been rather simple. Divination wasn't an option – not after all she had heard from her mother about it. Muggle studies weren't necessary, again because of her mother. Not because Hermione was a muggle, but she had been raised as a muggle. Therefore Rose knew everything she had to know about muggle behaviour, without a class. Left were Arithmancy, Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures.

She had decided to study all three of them. Luckily, none of her choices interfered with any of the others, and therefore she could do it.

Now she stood there, her first Care of Magical Creatures class about to begin. She had seen Scorpius among the other third-years, but hopefully they wouldn't be paired together in any of their electives. The core classes were bad enough.

When the professors had decided Rose and Scorpius would work together in all classes Ravenclaw and Slytherin shared, their intention had been to let a friendship between the two students grow, all because of said students' parents' eternal fight.

No such friendship existed.

They could cooperate. They had too, in order to endure the classes they shared. They didn't hate each other. Scorpius's smug trait or Rose being a know-it-all weren't reasons enough to hate each other. But they weren't friends. And as long as they spoke to each other as little as possible, as long as they didn't smile at each other or laugh in each other's presence, they would continue to work together.

That didn't matter right now, though. As Hagrid came out from his hut and met her gaze, she could tell that he wouldn't pair her with Scorpius if he could avoid it. Rose smiled appreciatively at him.

"Okay, thir-years, welcome t'yer firs' Care of Magical Creatures class. I'm Professor Rubeus Hagrid, but yeh jus' call me Hagrid, I wan' none of the professor talk. Today I was gonna teach y'all 'bout puffskeins, but earlier today when I was out walkin' the forest, I saw this unicorn foal, two years old, jus' 'bout to lose its golden hair, an' then I thought, why not let the little rascals on a tour in the Forbidden Forest to look for signs of unicorns? Thought tha' should be a better firs' class than puffskeins, borin' little fur balls. So whaddya think? Yeh up for a tour in the Forbidden Forest, or would yeh rather learn about puffskeins?"

A couple of Hufflepuff girls seemed a little worried, but the rest of the class cheered. Hagrid was a great teacher, and Lucy and Rose beamed at each other. They were about to enter the Forbidden Forest for the first time in their lives!

"I can tell what yeh wanna do, so let's go! Remember to stay close ter me, we wouldn't want any eaten students the very firs' week, would we?" When Hagrid heard the worried murmurs among the students following his words, he laughed. Everybody relaxed a little, drawing the conclusion that he had been joking. Still, it was a bunch of anxious third-years who followed the large man into the Forbidden Forest.

* * *

The class was almost over, and all they had found was a few unicorn hairs; all crystal white indicating a full-grown individual. Hagrid had spoken the entire time, teaching them how the unicorn foals were born with golden fur, but turned silver at the age of two. The foal he had seen earlier the same day had had a couple of silver patches, indicating an age of almost exactly two years.

"Must've been born same time yeh came ter Hogwarts for the firs' time", he said.

At the age of seven, the unicorn would be full-grown, and now completely white – white enough to make newly fallen snow seem grey.

"Well, 's time to turn back ter the castle. Follow me, class!" Hagrid suddenly called out. Rose turned around, and found herself standing no more than 10 yards away from a golden unicorn foal. A few silver patches hinted that this was the same foal as Hagrid had seen. For a long moment, all she could do was to stare into the stunning creature's eyes.

"What are you looking at?" Lucy suddenly asked. Rose gave her a quick glance.

"Look, there's…" she began, but when she turned back, the unicorn was gone.

"What?"

Rose hesitated for a moment, trying to catch sight of the unicorn foal again. It was nowhere to be found.

"…Nothing. Forget it", she mumbled. As she followed Hagrid out of the forest, Scorpius, who was just a few steps ahead of her, turned his head and gave her a meaningful look. He had seen the unicorn too. She was sure of it.

* * *

The rest of the week passed by without any more tours to the Forbidden Forest. When Friday came, she couldn't help but feel disappointed, and Scorpius seemed to feel the same. It was hard to tell, because he rarely showed any emotions other than smugness and arrogance, but he did seem a little off, not paying as much attention to what he was doing as he usually did.

When Friday night came, Rose lay wide awake in her bed, not able to get that unicorn out of her head. It had been beautiful, and the fact that it was changing colour and therefore was silver patchy didn't reduce its beauty even the slightest.

She had to see it again. She had to see the forest again, right now.

She got out of bed and quickly dressed. It was an impulsive decision, the kind of decisions she never made, but it barely felt like she had a choice. It was like the unicorn was calling on her to go find it.

She sneaked out of her room, down to the common room. Silently, she opened the door. The corridors of Hogwarts at night were dark and empty, even a little bit frightening. She hugged the walls, begging that no teacher would be walking the castle at this time of night.

No teacher did. She managed to get out of the castle unnoticed, and then she quickly ran over the Hogwarts ground to the Forbidden Forest. At the edge of the forest, she stopped and took a deep breath. The forest, bathing in moonlight, was both intimidating and tempting at the same time. For a moment she considered turning back, but then she thought about the unicorn again, and with new determination, she entered.

As she walked deeper into the forest, she wondered if she would see the unicorn again, and if she would find her way back. The thought of being lost in the Forbidden Forest should have scared her, but somehow it didn't matter. Why would it? If she could only find that unicorn, then everything would work out…

Something suddenly made her turn around. And there it was. Gold and silver, a combination of perfection.

She slowly walked towards it, not wanting to do any sudden movements, not even wanting to blink. If it disappeared again, she would be heartbroken.

She entered the glade where the unicorn stood, shimmering in the moonlight. It looked at her with utterly calm eyes, inviting her to come closer.

Finally, she stood right in front of it. She reached out her hand and gently stroke the unicorn's mule. It was just as soft as it was beautiful, and Rose smiled. This moment was completely perfect.

"Rose?" somebody suddenly asked, and ruined the moment, the perfection, everything. She turned around, still with a hand on the unicorn foal's mule. She couldn't bear if it disappeared now.

It was Scorpius.

"What are you doing here?" she asked hostilely.

"I could ask you the same", he responded, but seemingly unable to maintain his usual smug, arrogant tone. Before Rose could respond, the unicorn foal walked past her, trotted 20 feet and stopped in the middle between Rose and Scorpius. Both moved forward, enchanted by the unicorn's beauty. At the exact same moment, they reached the unicorn. Both started to stroke the foal, and for a little while, that was all they did. Then Rose looked up, and her eyes locked with Scorpius's eyes.

This moment was just as amazing to him as it was to her, she realised. There was someone behind that smug, arrogant façade, someone who found this golden and silvery unicorn foal just as beautiful as she did. They smiled at each other the exact same moment, and suddenly, the unicorn foal had had enough. It wasn't startled, it was just… Ready. Ready to leave. With one last, deep look into the unicorn's eyes, Rose let go. It wasn't her place to decide whether or not the foal would stay, and she wasn't going to try. She saw Scorpius do the same, and then the foal was gone. Somehow the forest seemed darker when the unicorn wasn't there anymore.

"It was beautiful", Rose whispered.

"Yes", Scorpius agreed. "We should get back now", he continued, "the forest can be dangerous. There's a reason it's forbidden." They silently walked side by side towards Hogwarts. The forest felt unsafe, especially when they had left the glade. Somehow Rose knew that the glade was a protected place, and when they now where outside it, they weren't protected anymore.

Just to prove this theory, Rose suddenly heard a movement behind them. Both of them turned around with their wands out, but the forest behind them was empty. Rose heard another movement, and turned around again. Glistening eyes began to appear everywhere around them, and soon they could tell what the eyes belonged to. Giant spiders.

"Acromantulas!" Rose whispered.

"What?" Scorpius tried to suppress the fear in his voice, but he failed miserably. He sounded terrified.

"Acromantulas. They're giant spiders. Their favourite dish is… Human flesh. We're in trouble." Moments later, the spiders attacked. They were sized different. The smallest not bigger than a medium sized dog, the biggest outsizing horses. Both Rose and Scorpius began shooting spells around them as fast as they could, everything to keep the hungry spiders away. But they were too many. They were getting closer every second, and finally Rose felt one of them jump onto her head, felt it get all tangled up in her hair, and all she could do was to scream. She hated the feelings of fear and helplessness that attacked her, she hated that she couldn't do anything. She hated the fact that she was going to die.

"ALARTE ASCENDARE!" a voice suddenly screamed. And then the spider was gone, catapulted into the air by Scorpius.

"Thank you", she said with a trembling voice. He nodded towards her and didn't see the spider that was jumping towards him from behind.

"Arania Exumai!" Rose called out, and the spider behind Scorpius was blasted away.

"We're even."

Rose gave him a fleeting smile, but it was soon gone from her face. What spell could possibly be used to get rid of them all, or at least keep them occupied long enough to give Rose and Scorpius time to escape? Time… And suddenly she knew. It was a spell she hadn't yet perfected, but she had to try. It was their only chance to get away from the man-eating spiders.

"Aresto Momentum!" she called out, and suddenly the spiders slowed down. Anger flashed in their black eyes, as they moved towards Rose and Scorpius. They knew that they were too slow to catch the two children, and it made them absolutely furious.

"I'm holding them. We're still surrounded though, so do you think you could clear a path? I can't hold them forever." Scorpius nodded, and made himself prepared.

"What did you say before, Arania Exumei?"

"Arania Exumai. Just say it and point with your wand at the spider you want to blast away." Sweat formed on her forehead; it became increasingly hard to hold so many fighting individuals at once. If only they hadn't been so many.

"Okay. Arania Exumai! Arania Exumai! Arania Exumai!" With this, three spiders got blasted away. Because of Rose's spell the spiders were pushed back in slow motion, but it didn't matter. They had a way out now. And they ran.

After a hundred feet Rose had to let go of the spell. Without it she could put her wand away and run faster, but now the spiders could chase them. And the spiders did. The sound of teeming feet behind them made Rose and Scorpius push themselves even harder. Nothing but to get out of there before the spiders caught them mattered.

"Look!" Scorpius suddenly cried. Rose looked up, and when she saw what he was talking about, she felt so relieved she almost stopped running. The forest in front of them was gone, replaced with Hogwarts grounds. A few more steps, and they were out of the vicious forest.

Scorpius and Rose didn't hesitate, but the spiders did. They hissed and snapped, furious because their prey had gotten away, but refused to follow the two children out of the forest. With one last, longing look, they turned around and left.

When the spiders were gone, Rose and Scorpius collapsed. They just lay there and tried to catch their breath. Finally, a little laugh made its way out of Rose.

"We did it. We survived", she said, still laughing.

"Yes", Scorpius agreed. "Thank you. You saved my life."

"Thank you too. You saved my life. And you learn really fast. Had you never heard of Arania Exumai before?" she asked with astonishment.

"No, I hadn't. But we had to get out of there fast, or those spiders would have eaten us. It wasn't a good time to fail", he explained.

"I felt the same with Aresto Momentum. I hadn't perfected it yet, but I realised that I would need a major success to get us out of there alive. So I just… Did it."

They got up and began to walk towards the castle. After a few moments of awkward silence, Rose spoke again.

"I'm going back next week. I don't care about the spiders, or anything in that forest. I'm going back. That unicorn… I have to see it again." She shrugged. She couldn't explain it any better.

"Yes. I'm going back too", he agreed. A sudden thought made her speak again.

"We should go together", she told him, careful not to sound too excited about the idea. It was perfect! Then they could protect each other, and perhaps it would even develop the friendship the professors wanted between them. What could possibly go wrong?

When Scorpius answered, he didn't seem too keen on the idea, though.

"Why would we?" he asked with a hint of his usual arrogance. Rose frowned. She had preferred the new, nicer Scorpius over the old one.

"Because if it hadn't been for each other, none of us would have been here now. We can protect each other. We can survive situations together as we wouldn't be able to survive by ourselves." She felt the uppish tone sneak back into her voice, and she hated it. She didn't want to be that annoying know-it-all everybody but Al and Lucy thought she was.

"Fine. Meet me in the Entrance Hall by midnight next Friday night." He sounded irritated, which made Rose sound irritated in return.

"Good." With that, they were back by the castle. They entered, and Rose was just about to leave Scorpius and make her way back to the Ravenclaw common room, when his voice made her stop. She didn't turn around.

"We can't let anybody know about this. Nothing is different in class, we dislike each other just as usual." His voice sounded so arrogant, so demanding.

"Well, that hasn't changed, has it?" And with those words still floating around in the room, she left the Entrance Hall, went back to the Ravenclaw tower and into her and Lucy's dorm. She undressed, went to bed and within five minutes she was fast asleep. It had been a long day.

* * *

**Scorpius's POV**

* * *

Third year. Third year in some ways, first year in others.

Third year of school. Third year of core classes.

First year of Hogsmeade. First year of electives.

Choosing electives had been surprisingly hard, mostly because he was only interested in one of the subjects; Care of Magical Creatures. When he had chosen it, Mark had seemed rather sceptical. Scorpius probably didn't appear to be an outdoor guy, but truth was, he loved all the outdoor themed classes. Potions, Herbology and Flying alike. Of course he hadn't had Flying classes since first year, but now he was the seeker of the Slytherin Quidditch team, so he got to fly a lot anyways.

No, the problem was the other elective. He had to choose two, but none of the others interested him. No way he was going to choose Divination, he wasn't going to spend the rest of the year drinking tea and watching the sump in the bottom of the cup.

There was no reason to know pathetic things about pathetic people, and therefore he wasn't going to take the Muggle studies class either. So he had chosen between Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. Both had seemed boring, but some old, dead language even more so than the future.

He chose Arithmancy as his other elective.

This wasn't Arithmancy, though, this was his very first Care of Magical Creatures class. Scorpius was excited, even though his face revealed nothing. Hopefully Hagrid wouldn't pair him with Rose again, that know-it-all was really enervating.

A couple of minutes later, the half-giant came out of his… Shack.

"Okay, thir-years, welcome t'yer firs' Care of Magical Creatures class. I'm Professor Rubeus Hagrid, but yeh jus' call me Hagrid, I wan' none of the professor talk. Today I was gonna teach y'all 'bout puffskeins, but earlier today when I was out walkin' the forest, I saw this unicorn foal, two years old, jus' 'bout to lose its golden hair, an' then I thought, why not let the little rascals on a tour in the Forbidden Forest to look for signs of unicorns? Thought tha' should be a better firs' class than puffskeins, borin' little fur balls. So whaddya think? Yeh up for a tour in the Forbidden Forest, or would yeh rather learn about puffskeins?"

He didn't cheer with the rest of the class, but he did allow himself a little smile.

"I can tell what yeh wanna do, so let's go! Remember to stay close ter me, we wouldn't want any eaten students the very firs' week, would we?" Some silly girls from Hufflepuff seemed worried, but Hagrid's word didn't bother Scorpius. If something tried to eat him, it would get fried.

* * *

During class, Scorpius made his best efforts not to seem like he paid attention, but he did. He found it embarrassingly interesting to listen about unicorns, their colours, their age, everything. Golden until two years old, then they become silvery. Only the hooves stay golden, and remains so for the rest of their lives. At seven, they lose their silvery hair, and becomes shimmering white. Their horn grows in when they're four years old. Their blood is silvery blue.

When the earlier so worried Hufflepuff girls found a few hairs, everybody started to look around to try and find the unicorn the hairs had belonged to, but Hagrid quickly demolished all hope. He said the hairs hadn't been attached to a unicorn for several days.

They walked the forest for a little while more before Hagrid sighed and spoke again.

"Well, 's time to turn back ter the castle. Follow me, class!" Scorpius, after scanning the forest for unicorns one last time, turned around to follow Hagrid. And there it was; the unicorn foal Hagrid had been talking about, 10 yards away. For a long moment, he looked into its eyes, and it looked back.

"What are you looking at?" Lucy asked, and for a moment, Scorpius thought she talked to him. He quickly turned around, but of course she had been talking to Rose. He quickly lost interest, and turned back to watch the unicorn again.

It was gone. He had looked away for only a second, and now it was gone. He tried to find it again, but it was in vain. It wasn't there anymore.

A disappointed gasp made him glance sideways. It was Rose, and she stared intensely at the spot where the unicorn had been moments ago. She had seen it too, he was practically certain.

As they were heading back, he turned around and met her gaze, telling her with his eyes what he couldn't say with words. He had seen the unicorn, and he knew that she had too. Understanding glimpsed in her eyes, and that was all confirmation he needed. Oh, she had seen it alright. She had seen it indeed.

* * *

It was Friday night. Almost midnight. Scorpius should be asleep. Mark was a riser, and normally Scorpius was too. If he slept for too long next morning, Mark would wonder why.

He just couldn't get that unicorn out of his head. It was silly, he knew that. Unicorns, rainbows, princesses… All that belonged in the girl universe, and he was certainly not a part of any girl universe. Neither did he care for princesses or rainbows, but unicorns… They were magical, enchanting. They could light up the whole forest, surely.

He had to see it again. But how, and when? Since the first Care of Magical Creatures class, they hadn't gone back to the forest, but instead learned about puffskeins. What Hagrid had said that first day was true; they were boring little fur balls.

What about now, then? He couldn't sleep anyways, and it was Saturday tomorrow. No classes. If he could get out there, without getting spotted by a teacher, he could be in the forest with the unicorn for as long as he wanted to. Then he could sneak back before anybody woke up, and sleep a few extra hours in the morning. If Mark asked him about it, he could just say that he had had a hard time falling asleep the night before, which was true.

Perfect. All covered up. He was free to go, and so he did. He was quickly dressed and out of his dorm and common room. He sneaked through the empty corridors of Hogwarts castle. Twice he almost ran into a professor, but in the end he managed to avoid discovery.

He went out of the castle, and walked over the school grounds in a fast pace. He would have run, but somehow it would have felt silly. It wasn't that important, was it? It was just a unicorn after all. He couldn't even be sure it was going to show up. His plan was to wander off into a dangerous and forbidden forest, armed with nothing but his wand, searching for a creature he had watched for merely ten seconds a few days earlier. It was an absolutely absurd plan, but somehow the possibility of seeing the unicorn again made it a very reasonable one instead. Peculiar.

When he reached the forest, he hesitated for a moment. He wasn't a Gryffindor; ready to throw himself into every possible danger for the mere fun of it. He was a Slytherin, and a Slytherin didn't put himself in danger if he could avoid it.

He couldn't avoid it, though. He had to at least try to see the unicorn again, even if it meant putting himself in danger. With a deep breath, he entered the Forbidden Forest.

* * *

Scorpius had been walking through the forest for quite some time now, and he was almost about to give up. How could a forest well known for all its dangerous and beautiful creatures seem so _empty_? It didn't make sense.

A sudden impulse made him turn his head to the left, and between the trees, he caught a glimpse of gold. Could it be it? Could it be the unicorn foal? It had to be, because nothing else could glow with that kind of gold. Excited, he made his way through the trees. For every step he took, he saw the unicorn clearer, and he was just about to step into the glade where it stood, when Scorpius realised it wasn't alone. Someone stood next to it, caressing it. It was a girl, and he recognised her immediately. He had spent too many hours with that vivid red hair in his visual field not to recognise her.

"Rose?" he asked, not really wanting to intrude, but at the same time refusing to leave without a few minutes with the unicorn. She turned around fast as lightning, and when she saw who it was, standing behind her, anger flashed through her eyes. Her hand still touched the unicorn's mule, as if she didn't want to let go.

"What are you doing here?" she asked with a voice that screamed _unwelcome_.

"I could ask you the same." Before Rose had time to answer him, the unicorn foal walked past her. She looked strangely hurt when the unicorn trotted towards Scorpius, and stopped in the middle between them. Nonetheless, she followed it. Scorpius, too, moved forward, and they reached the unicorn foal at the same moment. They began to stroke it, and Scorpius found himself watching Rose almost more than he looked at the enchanting unicorn. Her face was so at peace, it was almost beautiful. Suddenly she looked up, and all the anger was gone. She met his gaze with soft eyes. The moment was so wonderful, with the forest and the unicorn, he couldn't help but smile, and so did she.

And the unicorn wanted to go. It didn't do anything, not really. It didn't move, it didn't neigh. But Scorpius could feel it wanted to leave.

Rose was the first one to let go. She accepted that the unicorn wasn't supposed to be there with them anymore. Scorpius found it hard to follow her example, but he knew he had to. He couldn't be responsible for keeping this innocent creature somewhere it didn't want to be, and so, he also let go.

The unicorn was gone, and the forest was dark.

"It was beautiful", Rose whispered with dreaming eyes.

"Yes… We should get back now, the forest can be dangerous. There's a reason it's forbidden." He didn't want to be a killjoy, but they had to get out of there, before anything held back by the presence of the unicorn realised they were now alone.

They left the glade, and a shiver ran down his spine. They had now left a safe spot, he was sure of it. They had been protected, but now all the beasts in the forest could hunt them with impunity. For a few minutes, they walked, silent in a silent forest.

Then suddenly Scorpius heard something move behind them. He turned around as fast as he could, and so did Rose. He thought he could discern some sort of hairy body, but he didn't have time to give it a closer look before he heard the movement again, and turned around once more. Eyes started to appear everywhere around them, eyes that belonged to just the kind of hairy body Scorpius had caught a glimpse of moments ago. Now when he could give them a better look, he realised that they were spiders. Giant spiders, some of them as big as horses.

"Acromantulas!" Rose whispered with fear in her voice. Fear mirroring his own.

"What?" Scorpius asked, afraid of the answer. Acromantulas didn't sound good, not good at all.

"Acromantulas. They're giant spiders. Their favourite dish is… Human flesh. We're in trouble." Scorpius gulped at Rose's words as he prepared himself to meet the attack, and probably his own death.

The spiders attacked. He shot all spells and curses he could think of at the spiders, trying hard to keep them away. They were so many, though. It seemed impossible to kill or hurt them all, and he could only hope that Rose did better with her share of spiders as he didn't have time to see for himself. Suddenly, her scream pierced through the clicking, hissing sound of the spiders. Scorpius turned around only to see Rose's hair completely covered by one of the smaller spiders. He reacted in a millisecond, and shot the first spell he could think of at the spider on Rose's head.

"ALARTE ASCENDARE!" he yelled with all the power he could muster in his voice. The spider flew up in the air, and more importantly, away from Rose's head.

"Thank you", she said, already collected after what had happened. A normal girl would have broken down and cried in that moment, but Rose wasn't a normal girl. She stood up straight, and impressed by her strength, Scorpius nodded.

"Arania Exumai!" Rose suddenly called out, pointing with her wand somewhere behind him. He turned around just in time to see a spider in mid-air getting blasted away by the unfamiliar spell. He took a deep, calming breath, and shot a glance at Rose.

"We're even."

She didn't respond, but he thought he saw a brief smile on her mouth.

He didn't have to time to think about Rose's smiles, though. The spiders were still attacking, and Scorpius grew more and more desperate. What could they possibly do? How could they get out of this situation alive? Or, if that in the end would turn out to be an impossibility, how could at least he get out of this situation alive? There had to be some way. All hope couldn't be lost, could it?

But the spiders came closer. Soon another one would have the opportunity to attack them physically.

"Aresto Momentum!" Rose screamed, another unfamiliar spell amongst all the others he had heard. He didn't think about it, not until its effects showed. All the spiders slowed down. Suddenly they were walking in slow motion, moving through the air as if it was as thick as syrup. He could feel the astonishment etched on his face when he turned around, but Rose didn't acknowledge it. To be honest, she looked rather troubled, as if the spell wore on her.

"I'm holding them. We're still surrounded though, so do you think you could clear a path? I can't hold them forever." Scorpius had been right, the spell did wore on her. He'd better make a path out of there as quick as possible, then.

He didn't know what exact spell he was supposed to use, though, not until he thought of the one Rose had used a few minutes earlier to save his life. It seemed to be the only appropriate spell right now, but he couldn't afford to make any mistakes. How many times had Professor Flitwick told them about Baruffio, the wizard who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest? Too many times for him not to ask Rose before he tried this spell.

"What did you say before, Arania Exumei?" he asked her quickly.

"Arania Exumai. Just say it and point with your wand at the spider you want to blast away." As she spoke, her mouth twisted into a grimace. She wouldn't be able to hold the spiders much longer; Scorpius had to act now. Without further consideration, he pointed at one of the spiders that blocked the path back to the school, and yelled the words. He did so twice more, and now they were free to run.

They ran as fast as they could while Rose still had to hold her wand the right way to keep up the spell. It became increasingly hard for her, he could tell, and after a couple of minutes she gave up and put her wand away. Now, she could run significantly faster, but the spiders could too. Soon, Scorpius heard the hissing and clicking from the eight-legged animals behind them. He ran even faster to avoid the fast, agile spiders, and Rose followed his example.

For a moment, Scorpius stopped watching the ground for vicious roots sticking up from the ground, and looked ahead of them instead. Relief washed over him, because he could see the Hogwarts grounds. They were almost out of the forest.

"Look!" he yelled. He didn't know if Rose actually did look up, but it didn't matter. They passed the forest edge and they were safe, the spiders stopped and didn't dare to follow them out of the forest. The hissed and clicked, furious, but then they seemed to accept that they would taste no human flesh tonight, and retreated back into the forest.

Scorpius fell to the ground out of pure exhaustion, and so did Rose. They tried to catch their breath for a moment, and suddenly, completely out of place, Rose laughed.

"We did it. We survived", she said, still giggling in a weird, exhausted way.

"Yes… Thank you. You saved my life." He said it unwillingly, but he still had to say it. She deserved it, since she was the reason he was alive.

"Thank you too. You saved my life. And you learn really fast. Had you never heard of Arania Exumai before?" Rose sounded both surprised and impressed, and Scorpius pressed away a smile.

"No, I hadn't. But we had to get out of there fast, or those spiders would have eaten us. It wasn't a good time to fail", he said it a little bit as a joke, but Rose seemed to take it more serious than that.

"I felt the same with Aresto Momentum. I hadn't perfected it yet, but I realised that I would need a major success to get us out of there alive. So I just… Did it."

An uncomfortable silence settled between them, so they got up and began to walk towards the castle again. If she just would have stayed silent, he would have been perfectly content, but as usual, she had to speak.

"I'm going back next week. I don't care about the spiders, or anything in that forest. I'm going back. That unicorn… I have to see it again." Rose made a good point, and now as she said it, Scorpius realised he would do the same.

"Yes. I'm going back too", he told her. Suddenly, her eyes lit up, and Scorpius realised how stupid he had been to tell her that. Why, why, why?

"We should go together!" she squealed, obviously trying to hide her excitement, and just as obviously failing.

"Why would we?" he asked, annoyed by the idea. The forest was very much enchanting without her. How could that redhead think she would fit in amongst the ancient trees with all the fair, magical creatures living there? She didn't belong in the forest.

"Because if it hadn't been for each other, none of us would have been here now. We can protect each other. We can survive situations together as we wouldn't be able to survive by ourselves." And there she was back, the know-it-all who had annoyed him every day the last two years of his life. Her voice alone made him want to object, to disagree only for the sake of disagreeing.

Unfortunately for him, know-it-alls, in general, tended to be right, and so also in this case. If it hadn't been for her, indeed he would have been dead now.

"Fine. Meet me in the Entrance Hall by midnight next Friday night." He frowned at his own words, both looking forward to next Friday, and dreading it. Looking forward to see the unicorn, dreading to spend more time than necessary with Rose.

"Good", she snapped, and opened on of the gates to the Entrance Hall. She was clearly about to walk away, but Scorpius hadn't told her everything he had to tell her yet.

"We can't let anybody know about this. Nothing is different in class, we dislike each other just as usual." His instructions made her stop, but not turn around. Her shoulders were stiff, as if his words made her angry somehow.

"Well, that hasn't changed, has it?" her rhetorical question made him feel strangely hurt. This wasn't the first insult he had received from her, and it would probably not be the last. Still, this one felt different from the others.

He shrugged, and let it go. It didn't matter, anyways.

* * *

He went back to the Slytherin common room. A couple of prefects who hadn't been there when he had left gave him a look, but smiled. They wouldn't rat. Slytherins watched each other's backs, and a third year Slytherin sneaking around in the corridors after curfew wasn't anything they were going to report. Had he been a student from another house he would have been in trouble, but he wasn't from another house. He was Slytherin, and as he slowly fell asleep, that soothing thought kept a certain annoying, redheaded know-it-all away from his messy, incoherent dreams.

* * *

**Oh my, what a chapter. I'm sorry it took so long to get this posted, it has been a combination of RL, fanfictions I've been reading and lack of inspiration for Scorpius's part (I always find it hard to match his thoughts with his behaviour, oddly enough).**

**Two things; first, I want to apologise if any American English sneaks into my writing. My spell check is set on British English, but that doesn't keep all of it out. Since I'm not from neither England nor America, nor any English speaking country at all, I can't always tell what's significant for British or American English. If you see something, please point it out and I will try to avoid it in the future.**

**Second, review! There must be a reason 99% of the people who have clicked on this fanfiction haven't followed it. Do you like it? Do you dislike it? Pray tell me, I'm really curious.**

**And that's it for this time. Hopefully, next chapter will be up sooner than this was.**

**See you around for the next chapter!**

**Hannoie**


	5. Chapter 5

**I begin to write this chapter without a real plan. I have a few main events I want to happen, but besides that, I don't know. I think the characters will surprise me as much as they will surprise you this chapter…**

**Disclaimer: Sadly, these surprising characters don't belong to me, they belong to our queen Jo.**

* * *

**Rose's POV**

* * *

The week passed in a blur, and at the same time, every second seem to etch in her mind, every second an eternity. The week passed by in no time at all, and at the same time, it was the slowest week she had ever experienced – including the last week before her first year at Hogwarts.

But now it was Friday night. Ten minutes to midnight, and Lucy breathed slowly and deeply. Rose was relieved; Lucy could be up rather late sometimes, but this night she had gone to bed quite early. Surprisingly early to be Lucy, actually, but this night Rose welcomed infrequencies that normally would have worried her a little.

She got up and dressed, as quickly and quietly as possible, before she sneaked towards the door. She was just about to exit her dorm when Lucy, who had seemed to be fast asleep only seconds ago, spoke.

"Where are you going, Rose?" Rose turned around, slowly. Lucy sat up in her bed, and her eyes were harder than Rose had ever seen them before.

Lucy had dark brown hair, slightly tanned skin, and blue-green eyes. Usually, her face was kind, sugar sweet. Now, it was a mask of anger and hurt feelings.

"I… How… I was just… Just about to…" Rose stammered, tried to make up a good excuse. She could think of nothing. Bright, quick-witted Rose Weasley could think of nothing at all to say. Lucy shook her head at Rose's vain attempts to lie.

"Don't lie to me, Rose. I know you sneaked out last Friday night, too. I woke up in the middle of the night, and I noticed you were gone. You were not in the bathroom, nor in the common room working on some paper. You were just gone. I couldn't do anything, so I went back to bed. When I woke up in the morning you were there again, sleeping. When you finally woke up, I didn't question you about it, because I knew that if I had anything to do with it, you would tell me, and I thought maybe it was a one-off, and that it would never happen again. But here you are; trying to sneak out. So where is it you are going after curfew? What is so secret and important you can't even tell you best friend?" When she was done with her characteristic ramble, Rose sighed and sat down on her bed again. She would be late, but Scorpius would just have to wait. This was more important than the forest and the unicorn.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to drag you into this, that's why I didn't tell you. If this leaked out, I would get detention for ever, or even get expelled. And you could get in trouble only because you didn't tell a professor. And… I'm sorry, but we have always followed rules until now. I was afraid, that if I told you, you would feel it was your duty to tell somebody about what I was doing." Rose fell silent, a little bit ashamed of what she had said. She had just told her best friend that she didn't trust her. That wasn't even true – Rose did trust Lucy. She could only hope Lucy knew that.

Lucy shook her head. She looked even more hurt than before, but perhaps not quite as angry.

"You can always trust me to protect you. I would never tell the professors about… What exactly is it you're doing?" she suddenly asked suspiciously, realising Rose hadn't told her yet.

"I went to… No, let's start from the beginning. Do you remember our first Care of Magical Creatures class last week?" Rose asked. Lucy nodded.

"Yes. We went looking for unicorns, but we only found a few hairs. That was so sad, hadn't it been wonderful if we'd seen a unicorn?" she asked with dreaming eyes.

"I did see a unicorn", Rose mumbled.

"You did? How… When… Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was just about to, when… When it disappeared. It was the foal, Lucy. The golden one, with silver patches. It was beautiful." Rose looked at her, Rose's eyes begging her to understand.

"That is amazing… But what has it to do with you disappearing Friday nights?" she asked. Rose clenched her teeth. Usually Lucy wasn't so… Slow.

"Last Friday night I couldn't sleep. All I could think about was the unicorn foal. So… About midnight, I sneaked back. Back into the Forbidden Forest."

"You went back to the Forbidden Forest at night, alone?" she screamed, horrified.

"Hush!" Rose whispered. "Keep quiet."

"Sorry. What happened?"

"You mean besides the moment when I touched the unicorn and when I fought giant spiders?" Rose asked with a little smile, knowing what reaction she would get.

"You touched the unicorn? You fought giant spiders?" Lucy hissed. Rose smiled, nodded, and waited for Lucy to realise what Rose had really said. It took a couple of seconds, but then she seemed to understand.

"Besides the unicorn and the giant spiders? There is a besides?" she asked, forgetting to whisper.

"Hush. Yes… I wasn't the only one who saw the unicorn during class. Scorpius Malfoy saw it too. He also went back around midnight Friday night, and found the unicorn only moments after I did. So… _We_ touched the unicorn. _We_ fought giant spiders. He saved my life, Lucy. So we agreed, as we both planned to go back, to go together. It's the safest way." Lucy's eyes were about as big as saucers by now, and she began to hit the mattress to avoid screaming in excitement. Rose didn't see what it was to be so excited about.

"You mean… That you from now on… Have a weekly date with Scorpius 'Hotness personified' Malfoy?" she scream-whispered.

"I never agreed on that nickname", was Rose's only comment. Lucy gave her an irritated look.

"Come on. He was cute the first couple of years, but now he is really good-looking. In a couple of years, he'll look like a god!" she exclaimed.

"God of Frozen Hell", Rose sarcastically whispered. Lucy rolled her eyes.

"Don't be a bitch now. By the way, I forgive you. I can see why you didn't tell me. But from now on, I need to know _everything._ Understand?"

"Yes, of course", Rose agreed without hesitation. There would probably not be much to tell, anyways. After a while, even Lucy would grow tired of only hearing about long moments of caressing a unicorn.

"When are you supposed to meet him?" Lucy suddenly asked.

"Midnight."

"That is… Ten minutes ago! Go! Now!" she screamed, pushing Rose towards the exit.

"Do you want to come?" Rose asked, because it would be impolite not to ask. Lucy quickly shook her head, and by some reason, Rose felt relieved.

"I don't want to fight any bloody spiders, and I certainly don't want to interrupt your date with the hottest third-year at school. Besides, if I were supposed to go into that forest, I would have seen the unicorn too. Now off you go. Hurry up, but don't get caught by a professor!"

"It's not a date!" Rose said emphatically. Lucy didn't answer, she just gave her best friend a look that made said best friend hurry up through the exit, out of the common room and almost run through the corridors to get to the Entrance Hall as fast as possible.

* * *

It was empty. The Entrance Hall was completely empty. Not a soul was waiting for her there, and especially not Scorpius.

She took a few steps forward, wondering where he was. She was almost 20 minutes late, yes, but he shouldn't have left. They had agreed to meet there.

_We agreed to meet here by midnight, _a little voice in her head corrected her. She sighed. She would just have to go alone, and hope the spiders remembered what had happened last Friday.

She opened the door, sneaked out and closed it behind her. She was just about to run over the grounds to the forest, when a voice stopped her.

"You're 20 minutes late", he said coldly. Rose turned around, and there Scorpius was, leaning casually against the wall.

"You waited", was all she could think of saying. He frowned.

"Yes. We agreed to. I couldn't stay in the Entrance Hall, though. A professor would have found me and dragged me back to the Slytherin common room, after giving me a good amount of detention… Why are you late?" he asked. Rose clenched her teeth; she had begun to hope that maybe he would forget to ask.

"Lucy… Was awake. She knew I had sneaked out last Friday, and when I tried to do it again she asked me why", she mumbled.

"You tried to sneak out when she was still awake?" Scorpius asked, his eyes shooting daggers.

"No!" Rose answered with shrill voice. "She fake slept. And she faked good, too. I swear, I had no idea she was still awake. Then I wouldn't have tried to leave." Scorpius nodded, and they began to walk over the school grounds.

"Did you tell her?" he suddenly asked. Rose sighed, and shrugged.

"Well, yes. I had to. She wouldn't have taken a lie for an answer."

"A lie for an answer…" he repeated, and sounded somewhat amused. "But seriously Rose, what were you thinking? What if she tattles?" he asked, but he didn't really sound angry. Rose wasn't really angry either, even though he had just insulted her best friend. It was hard to be angry when you were about to see a unicorn.

"She won't, I promise. She's super excited right now, I promise you. Well, if she hasn't fallen asleep yet, that is." Rose smiled at the memory of Lucy's eyes. They had really been _big._

"Why would she be super excited?" Scorpius asked, and gave Rose a strange look.

_Hell, _she thought, and mentally pounded her head against a mental wall.

"Um… Nothing really", she mumbled, relieved it was so dark. She blushed furiously. Scorpius didn't ask again.

They reached the forest, and somehow it wasn't quite as intimidating as last week. She had someone who watched her back now.

They went into the forest, their steps more purposeful than last week, now when they knew where they were going.

Rose mostly followed Scorpius. There was a reason she had been a little worried about getting lost last week – she had no sense of direction at all. Even when they had been fleeing from the spiders, she had followed him, because he seemed to know exactly where to go.

* * *

Five minutes later, when they reached the glade, the unicorn foal stood there. It was almost completely silvery now, with only a couple of golden patches left. It was stunningly beautiful.

"Hey pretty", Rose cooed, moving closer to the unicorn. It whinnied softly, and Rose knew, that if it hadn't been a horse, it would have smiled.

"I think it's a girl", Scorpius said, as he moved closer to it too. Rose thought about his statement for a moment, before she nodded.

"Yes. I have that feeling, too. I don't really know why… I just feel it." She carefully stroke the unicorn, smiling softly.

The unicorn stood still for a moment, before she walked up to a tree that stood a little bit in front of the rest of the forest, disturbing the otherwise perfect circle the glade was. The tree was big, healthy, and with a cavity at the bottom. It was quite small. Rose would fit through the opening, no problem, but probably not much further in than that. It was just a small space, but it gave Rose an idea.

"Look", she said to Scorpius, and pointed at the tree. "It's a space inside. We could make it bigger, some sort of hut or cottage. It would be sweet." She smiled, already thinking in lines of every muggle Disney film she had ever watched. Then he, as he usually did, ruined the moment.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because it would be sweet. And convenient. What if we're here, and it begins to rain? It would be nice to have a shelter, then, don't you think?"

"Are you a witch, or what?" he asked sceptically. Rose rolled her eyes.

"Only the best of our year", she said.

"I'm the best of our year", Scorpius immediately answered.

"_You _are the best witch of our year? Well, alright then", Rose laughed.

"No, I'm the best wizard of the year."

"That's true. You're the best wizard, I'm the best witch."

"But I'm sti-", he begun, but Rose interrupted him.

"Just..! Leave it like that, okay?" she yelled, and he smirked.

"Fine."

"Back to the cottage. I'm going to do it, and if you think it's a bad idea, you don't have to help. But don't expect shelter when it begins to rain." He made a sound somewhere between a snort and a laugh, before he answered.

"I didn't say I disliked the idea. I just asked you why. Obviously you don't have a good reason, but that doesn't mean it is a bad idea."

"So..?" she asked, making him raise a brow.

"I guess… I'm in", he said, and seemed to try hard not to make it look like a big deal. Rose grinned.

"Well then, let's begin!" she exclaimed, clapping her eyes. She turned towards the tree again, barely noticing that the unicorn had disappeared, as excited as she was for the soon-to-be cottage.

* * *

**Scorpius's POV**

* * *

The clock was ten to midnight, and if Scorpius didn't leave soon, he would be too late. Only problem was, Mark was still awake.

It would have to do.

"Bye", he said, hoping Mark wouldn't really notice. He was reading a book after all – when Mark was reading he was usually hard to contact. Not this time, though.

"Where are you going?" he asked. After a moment of consideration, Scorpius decided to tell the truth, although the somewhat misleading version.

"You know, just a walk… With some company", he smiled conspiratorially, and Mark grinned back, to show the he 'understood'. He had no idea.

Scorpius was going into the Forbidden Forest with his father's arch enemy's daughter, searching for a silvery and golden unicorn. No, that didn't sound wrong at all. Of course not, Mark, it was perfectly natural. It totally made sense.

Or maybe not.

At all.

But it had seemed to make sense last Friday. They had survived an attack from the giant spiders, both had saved the others' life, and they were both going back. Bottom line; they would go together. But now, with another torturous week of Rose's company fresh in mind, he didn't feel very keen on the idea anymore. But he had promised, and Malfoys kept their promises. At least he would keep his promise.

Midnight sharp he entered the entrance hall, wondering if Rose, who was usually early to lessons, would already be there.

After a few looks around the room, he draw the conclusion that she wasn't. She would probably be there soon, though. He couldn't expect her to be completely punctual, not with all the professors sneaking around the castle. They could have forced her to hide for a moment, or walk a couple of minutes in the wrong direction. She probably wouldn't be more than five minutes late.

When five minutes had passed, Scorpius realised he couldn't stay there and push his luck forever. In the end, a professor would pass through the Entrance Hall, (he was surprised nobody had yet) he would get caught and then the tours to the Forbidden Forest would be over. The only logical thing to do was to wait outside.

He went out, and leaned against the wall right next to the entrance. Since no professors had any reason to go out at this hour, the risk of being detected out here was much smaller than in the Entrance Hall. Here, he could wait as long as he needed to. But for how long? He couldn't stand here all night. At some point, he would have to go by himself, or turn back into the castle. None of the ideas appealed to him.

He decided he would wait until one o'clock, but not another minute. Then, he would decide whether he would go by himself or go back to his dorm and sleep

Fortunately, he didn't have to wait until one o'clock. Twenty past midnight she exited the castle, and honestly, she looked rather pissed. She seemed ready to storm over the school ground to the forest, but before she had time to do that, he spoke. Now, he realised, he, too, was rather angry. Twenty minutes late!

"You're twenty minutes late", he told her, making her spin around so fast she was only a blur of red hair and black robes.

"You waited." She squeezed out the words, utterly surprised, maybe even shocked. What was so shocking? She almost looked like she had seen a ghost. It was possible she had, of course, but it shouldn't affect her like that.

"Yes. We agreed to. I couldn't stay in the Entrance Hall, though. A professor would have found me and dragged me back to the Slytherin common room, after giving me a good amount of detention…" Her shocked expression finally began to melt away, which made him think of something else. "Why are you late?" he asked. Rose didn't look happy to get the question, she even looked away.

"Lucy… Was awake. She knew I had sneaked out last Friday, and when I tried to do it again she asked me why", Rose mumbled. She seemed embarrassed, and she should be. What were she thinking, sneaking out while her best friend was still awake? It was one think with Mark – he was Slytherin, he wouldn't tattle, but you never knew with Ravenclaws. They weren't trusty at all.

"You tried to sneak out when she was still awake?" he asked, his voice perfectly illustrating the anger he felt. Again, she looked shocked.

"No!" she shrieked. "She fake slept. And she faked good, too. I swear, I had no idea she was still awake. Then I wouldn't have tried to leave." Scorpius reluctantly nodded, and began to walk over the grounds with Rose by his side. He suddenly realised there was another, very important question left to ask.

"Did you tell her?" His question made Rose sigh, and shrug.

"Well, yes. I had to. She wouldn't have taken a lie for an answer."

"A lie for an answer…" he repeated, and couldn't help but feel a little amused. Only Rose could ever… But that didn't matter right now. He had to deal with her irresponsibility before he tried to deal with her humour. "But seriously Rose, what were you thinking? What if she tattles?" he asked, but he couldn't quite build up the anger he had felt only moments ago. The closer they came to the forest, and the unicorn, the easier of mind he felt. Rose didn't seem upset over the insult directed at her best friend either, even though she still defended her.

"She won't, I promise. She's super excited right now, I promise you. Well, if she hasn't fallen asleep yet, that is." Rose smiled absentmindedly.

"Why would she be super excited?" Scorpius asked, and curiously glanced at Rose. Scorpius thought she blushed, but it was hard to tell. Her face was turned away, and the night was almost pitch black.

"Um… Nothing really", she mumbled, and sounded really embarrassed. Scorpius wanted badly to ask again, but it would probably not result in anything, so he let it go.

As they reached the forest, Scorpius didn't hesitate. He knew he could find the way to the glade and the unicorn, just as he had always been able to find the way to things he wanted.

_Sometimes I just wish I was equally good at finding my way away from things I don't want, _he thought with a glance at Rose.

* * *

When they reached the glade after a surprisingly short amount of time, the unicorn stood there and waited for them. Only a couple of patches of golden hair were left on the unicorn, which was otherwise completely silvery now.

"Hey pretty", Rose purred, and started to walk slowly towards the horse-like animal. Scorpius thought about how well 'pretty' fitted the unicorn.

_It's a girl, _his mind suddenly whispered to him, and he repeated the thought out loud.

"I think it's a girl", he said as he also began to move towards the stunningly beautiful creature.

"Yes. I have that feeling, too. I don't really know why… I just feel it", she agreed with a little smile. She reached out and touched it, but only for a moment. Then, the unicorn walked up to some tree, standing in the glade instead of with the rest of the trees. It looked like a tree pretty much like any other tree, but with a cavity at the bottom. Scorpius didn't see anything special with it, but he was apparently the only one. Rose turned around, smiling at him with stars in her eyes.

"Look", she said, and pointed at the tree. "It's a space inside. We could make it bigger, some sort of hut or cottage. It would be sweet!" Her eyes were like open windows into her mind, and Scorpius could see all the silly thoughts rushing by in there. She had never appeared so girly ever before as she did right now. He would have to calm her down and steer her up, if they were going through with this. First things first.

_Step number 1: Snitch her out of the girly mood._

"Why?" he asked, intentionally cold. It had the desired effect. Her face was drained of all silly, jolly, girly feelings whatsoever. Instead the tough, competitive Rose came back, and she put her hands on her hips.

"Because it would be sweet. And convenient. What if we're here, and it begins to rain? It would be nice to have a shelter, then, don't you think?"

"Are you a witch, or what?" he asked sceptically. Rose rolled her eyes.

"Only the best of our year", she said.

"I'm the best of our year", Scorpius immediately answered, knowing Rose would catch the bait.

_Step number 2: Lighten the mood._

"_You _are the best witch of our year? Well, alright then", Rose laughed. Scorpius pretended to be a bit taken aback, but he quickly 'recovered'.

"No, I'm the best wizard of the year."

"That's true. You're the best wizard, I'm the best witch", she settled.

"But I'm sti-", he begun, but Rose interrupted him.

"Just..! Leave it like that, okay?" she yelled, and he couldn't help but smirk.

"Fine."

"Back to the cottage. I'm going to do it, and if you think it's a bad idea, you don't have to help. But don't expect shelter when it begins to rain." She was clearly irritated, and Scorpius tried not to show that he was clearly amused, but he probably failed rather miserably.

_Step 3: Neutralize the previous two steps and make her think they never existed._

"I didn't say I disliked the idea. I just asked you why. Obviously you didn't have a good reason, but that doesn't mean it is a bad idea." Hope lit up her eyes.

"So..?" she asked, as if it wasn't obvious already. He was doing something together with Rose, willingly.

"I guess… I'm in", he said, and smiled wryly. Why it made her so happy, he could not understand, but nonetheless a big smile spread across her face, and she turned around.

"Well then, let's begin!" she squealed, and actually clapped her hands. He turned his eyes towards the tree again, noticing that the unicorn was gone.

_Very well, _he thought. _We don't need the unicorn to build a treehouse, this glade is still protected. And if anything bad would get in here, we'll watch each other's backs._

* * *

**And yeah, that's chapter five I guess :) I think I will jump directly to year five in chapter six, of course unless you really want me to write a little bit more in third and fourth year. I should warn you, though: Nothing more interesting happens, at all, before fifth year. But it's all up to you!**

**Again, sorry for all the mistakes I do, whether it's grammatical errors or American English mixed-up in this story clearly taking place in England.**

**Remember to review!**

**See you around for the next chapter!**

**Hannoie**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter six! And now… Year five! This should be the last major time skip, and if any more occurs it won't be of two years, I promise.**

**Disclaimer: Tis not mine.**

**R&R!**

* * *

**Rose's POV**

* * *

It was finally Rose's fifth year, and somehow it felt like everything was beginning now. Everything had led up to this year, when things finally begun. She would choose her future career path, she would study to her OWLs, she would get qualified to NEWT classes… The first thing to achieve in fifth year, she had already achieved. She had been made Ravenclaw prefect, together with a guy named Dean Fetcher.

Not just any guy. Rose had been into him all fourth year, and Lucy had repeatedly told Rose that he was into her too. Rose didn't dare to believe in such things, of course, but she had felt that he had been looking at her in the prefects' carriage in the Hogwarts Express a little more than necessary. Maybe..? But no. She wouldn't make herself hope, or she would just end up heartbroken.

The day of the students' arrival had been a Wednesday, and soon enough, it was Friday. Lucy was almost as excited as Rose was, even though she had never been to the glade and the cottage. Rose hadn't invited her there since the very first time, and Lucy didn't want to go, either.

It wasn't because there was anything between Rose and Scorpius. God, no, their relationship was completely platonic. But the glade, the unicorn, the cottage… It was their thing. It would feel wrong if anybody besides them came there, ever.

They didn't strictly go there only Fridays nowadays. Sometimes they also went there Saturday nights, or nights in the middle of the week when they couldn't sleep in their dorms. Weirdly enough, none of them ever went there without the other doing so too. It was as if they could feel that it was time to meet.

Fridays was a fixed appointment, though, and now it was finally time. She had longed for this all summer.

They didn't meet up in the castle anymore, they hadn't since Rose had been able to find her own way to the glade. It was simply too risky, and like this, it was less likely they would be detected.

Now, of course, they didn't have to worry about that anymore. Scorpius was a prefect, too, and prefects were allowed outside after curfew.

On her way to the Entrance Hall, she met a couple of professors, and nodded curtly. She felt a little tense, because if she had met a professor after curfew three months ago, they would have given her detention. Now, they _smiled. _She couldn't make herself smile back as she was about to break the rules, but she promised herself to practice. Soon enough she would be able to act normal in the corridors, for sure.

The Entrance Hall was empty and she walked out. She ran over the school grounds and into the forest. After a few hundred yards of walking, she saw the glimmering eyes of the Acromantulas, but a couple of curses far more powerful than the ones she and Scorpius had used the first week in third grade kept the spiders away. As she entered the glade, she knew she was safe.

Scorpius wasn't there yet, but the cottage was. It was just as they had left it, and Rose smiled affectionately at it. As it was now, the tree still thrived, but the lower part of the tree didn't look at all like it used to. It was enlarged into a perfect circle Shrek style (one of Rose's favourite muggle movies when she was younger), and it was several yards in diameter. It was, of course, hollow. The door was small and quaint, and she opened it carefully. The cottage was only lit by the moonlight flowing through the windows. With a quick flick of her wand the candles were lit.

* * *

The main room was big and circular. It was a mix between bedroom, living room, kitchen and dining room. Perhaps it seemed a little excessive, but it wasn't what they had planned for in the beginning. In the beginning it had been exactly what they had wanted; a small, sweet cottage to take cover in if it rained, snowed or was particularly cold. But after a while, the lack of sleep the trips to the forest caused begun to wear on them. So they had made beds. Their beds were in opposite sides of the room, but still clearly visible from each other. It had been somewhat awkward in the beginning, but after a while they grew used to each other.

After that, the other alterations had come quick enough. When you wake up in a hut, it's in the middle of the winter and you have to visit a bathroom, it isn't the best thing if there is no bathroom around. And if you wake up and it is Saturday morning, it's late and you know you have missed breakfast in the Great Hall, then it isn't too bad if you can eat breakfast in the cottage.

To make a little kitchen area had not been very hard – the hard part had been to smuggle the necessary food out of the castle. It had taken several weeks to fill the stock, and they still added more food as soon as they had a possibility. A clever charm on Rose's behalf kept the food fresh, even perishables such as milk. Soon afterwards they had made table and chairs, too.

The bathroom was the only part of the cottage that wasn't a part of the main room, for obvious reasons. Instead, it was one floor above. You reached it with a stair that was part of the tree. It wasn't big, but it was nice. It had been tricky to make – a mix of Rose's knowledge, Scorpius's knowledge and a good lot of books had made it possible. It had a shower, a toilet and a sink. Almost everything was made out of tree.

The decoration in the cottage was an odd mix of the Ravenclaw and Slytherin colours. Cushions, cloths, linens… It was either blue and bronze or green and silver. Their beds, though, were of course no mix. Hers had a royal blue pillow and blanket, with bronze fringes. Her sheet was just as white as his, but his pillow and blanket were emerald green with silver fringes. The linens were of course, thanks to a spell Scorpius knew about, self-cleaning, as it had been trouble enough to bring one round of linens to the cottage. The house-elves had been eyeing her suspiciously for weeks after that little adventure.

* * *

As it was now, Rose didn't really have anything to do. She had brought a few books as she put in the bookshelf. All their favourite books – and the most useful ones – stood there. Every year they found new books as they wanted to add, and every summer they bought them. The first few weeks of their fourth year would probably repeat themselves – they had been smuggling books to the cottage every Friday. She had a lot more books in her dorm in the Castle, but she could only carry so many books a time.

She picked one and sat down on her bed to read. She wouldn't have to wait long, she was sure.

Only a few minutes later, a voice made her look up from the book.

"Knock, knock", Scorpius said with a smile.

"Scor!" Rose squealed, got up from her bed and threw herself around his neck. Laughing, he hugged her back.

"Gosh, Rosie, it's nice to see you too. Just don't break my neck, will you?" He wasn't serious, or he wouldn't have been laughing. She tried to roll her eyes but failed. She was too happy to see him.

Lucy had been right a couple of years ago. Rose could still remember her exact statement. _He was cute the first couple of years, but now he is really good-looking. In a couple of years, he'll look like a god. _Lucy had been right. The fifteen year old boy in front of Rose was the most handsome guy she had ever met – including Dean Fetcher. The pale look – hair, skin, eyes – didn't work for everybody, but he certainly pulled it off. Scorpius looked a lot like his father had looked when he was fifteen – Rose had seen a couple of pictures – but Scorpius didn't have that unattractive sharpness in his facial features. It made him look nicer.

She was _not _in love with him, though. And it wasn't the pathetic kind of not-in-love, when the girl actually is in love with the boy but tries to tell everybody that she isn't, because it would ruin their friendship and why would she ever be interested in him, there's no reason at all… Rose just wasn't in love with him, and she came with no stupid, transparent excuse why she wasn't. There really was no reason, except from their families of course. He was good looking. He was intelligent. He was indeed very rich. And since she had actually gotten to know him, he had turned out to be a genuinely nice and warm person. But she wasn't in love with him, and it was probably for the best. If she had harboured any romantic feelings for him, and the feelings – God forbid – had been mutual, both their fathers would have gone nuts. Ron would most likely have thrown a fit, screaming his head off, telling Rose that she was both immature and foolish. According to what she knew about Scor's father, he most likely would have calmly told Scorpius that he was now disinherited, that he should never again show up at Malfoy Manor and that he was supposed to change his last name to Blood-Traitor. Yeah. It wouldn't have worked out. They even kept their friendship a secret. Only Lucy knew about it.

Rose let go of Scorpius, and gave him another smile. He smiled back, and picked up the books he had put down before he had made himself known. It seemed to be mostly Herbology and Potions, but a couple of fictions too. She picked the book on top of the pile, and couldn't help but smile. _Pride and Prejudice _by Jane Austen, a muggle author who lived around the turn of the 18th and 19th century. Let's just say it wasn't a book you expected a guy to read.

"Really?" Rose asked, sniggering. A faint blush seemed to colour Scor's cheeks.

"What? I know it's supposed to be a girl's book, but it's good, okay? I like the story." He shrugged, and looked quite embarrassed. Rose still giggled, but she made her best effort to put on a straight face.

"No, Scor, it's alright. I think it's a wonderful story, too. You go ahead and… Reread it, I suppose." She smirked, and he rolled his eyes.

"Later. Now I want to know everything that happened during the holidays. I wish we could correspond, but our fathers would find out in no time", he whined. Rose nodded in agreement.

"It's quite sad, when you think about it. That we can't even be friends without our fathers going crazy. Why do they hate each other so much?" Rose mumbled. Scorpius shrugged sarcastically.

"Oh, I don't know. But I'm sure the fact that they tried to kill each other several times during their school years has _nothing _to do with it. Or that my father was a Death Eater." The last part he mumbled, all sarcasm suddenly gone. Rose felt a wave of compassion for him. All the Slytherins respected, almost feared him, but students from the other houses treated him bad because of his father's iniquities. She took the rest of the books from him, put them down and hugged him again.

"I don't care what your father has done. I know you're a great guy no matter what. Don't let those Gryffindors get to you." She smiled encouragingly at him, and he smiled back a crooked smile. Rose didn't like to speak ill of Gryffindors, but they could be really intolerant to Slytherins sometimes. Especially a certain, arrogant Slytherin prefect. At least he appeared to be arrogant to those who didn't know him. Rose knew him, and she knew he was better than that.

"Thanks, Rosie", he whispered and let go. Suddenly Rose looked out through the still opened door. A certain, silvery creature sparkled in the moonlight, and Rose squealed of happiness for the second time that night.

"Pretty!" she exclaimed, and rand out to greet the unicorn. She hugged the unicorn enthusiastically, and kissed her soft mule. In third year, when they had determined the unicorn was a she, they had agreed that Pretty was a good name for the magical creature. Sure, she was stunningly beautiful rather than just pretty, but Stunningly Beautiful didn't sound too well as a name. Even shorted to Beauty, it felt too… Haughty. Pretty was the right name.

Scorpius was right behind Rose, and also he greeted the unicorn.

"I've missed you so much during the holidays, Pretty. You've missed us too, haven't you? It must have been boring without us running about the forest making noises. I know you would laugh at us if you could, Pretty. Two fifteen-year-olds, running around playing in the forest. But it is such a magical forest, don't you think? Of course you do, you live her, don't you? It's the best forest in the world, and this glade is the best place in the forest. I know, because I have been in the forest many times. But you know that, don't you?" Rose mumbled affectionately.

* * *

It was true. After the Christmas break in third year, Rose and Scorpius had begun to discover the rest of the forest. Now, in fifth year, they knew about every tree, rock and creature in the forest. Many of the creatures were dangerous, but they had faced them together, and always succeeded to fend the creatures off. Of course, not all of the creatures were evil or dangerous. The centaurs, for example. They were dangerous, indeed, but not evil. During Rose and Scorpius's first encounter with the centaurs, they had said that they would tolerate the children's presence because 'the children knew what it meant to respect the forest and the stars'. Rose and Scorpius didn't quite know what the centaurs had meant by that, but they were glad the centaurs had approved. Being in the forest was hard if the most powerful creatures opposed. As it was now, they, particularly Rose, had made quite a good friend in a female centaur named Cilena. She was quite young, but very wise. She had a slender, white horse body and pale skin. Her eyes were blue, and her hair was so blond it almost looked as white as her horse body. It was hard to have a normal conversation with her, because she would always speak in riddles, but she was nice. Once she saved Rose and Scorpius from a couple of furious forest trolls. It was in the end of their third year – it wasn't positive they would have made it on their own.

* * *

When Rose and Scorpius was done cuddling Pretty, the unicorn left and they went back inside the cottage. Rose yawned.

"It's one o'clock. We should go to bed now", she said with drowsy voice.

"Yeah", he agreed. Rose glanced at him, before she made a run for her nightdress, and up to the bathroom. She heard Scorpius curse at her, and she grinned. Had he forgotten their 'first to the bathroom'-contest over the summer? He would certainly remember it now.

She peed and brushed her teeth, before she changed into the nightdress and went back down. Scorpius had already changed into his pyjamas, or rather pyjama pants. He never wore anything on his torso when he was about to sleep – he said it wrapped around him in an uncomfortable way.

Rose couldn't help but stare at him. No, she wasn't interested, but that didn't make him less smoking hot. She could have killed for a boyfriend with abs like that. And those arms! Scorpius noticed her gaze, and grinned.

"What's up, Rosie? Enjoying the view?" he asked, a quirky twinkle in his eye.

"Scorpius Malfoy, we both know you are pure eye candy. Let me enjoy myself a little", she answered with a grin just like his. He laughed, and begun to pose to show off all his sharply defined muscles. Rose would have rolled her eyes, but the hottest guy in school was posing topless in front of her. She wasn't so stupid she actually looked away.

"Come on Rosie, you know you want me", he said with a smirk. Now, Rose did roll her eyes.

"I want a nice guy with your body. Big difference!" she yelled, grinning again. He looked mock offended, and dramatically pointed at himself.

"I am a nice guy!" he exclaimed, but Rose just laughed.

"Sure, whatever. Will you get yourself ready so we can go to bed already?" she asked. He rolled his eyes but did as she asked. Moments later, Rose was alone downstairs. The clock was almost half past one, so she didn't begin to read anything. She went straight to bed, and was almost asleep when Scorpius came back down. With one last look at his gorgeous abs, she closed her eyes.

"Goodnight, Scor", she said.

"Goodnight, Rosie."

And she was asleep.

* * *

The next morning Rose woke up, got up from her bed, showered and got dressed. When she was good to go, she glanced at the clock and realised it was almost eleven. They were not serving breakfast in the Castle anymore.

She walked up to Scorpius's bed, and shook him. He just mumbled something and turned away, so she shook him harder.

"Scor, wake up! She's eleven o'clock in the morning, and if you want breakfast I suggest you wake up." He blinked his eyes like an owl several times, before he groaned.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming! Just… Five more minutes Rosie…" he mumbled and closed his eyes again.

"UP!" Rose yelled, and a few seconds later, Scorpius sat at the table. They ate in silence, Scorpius with a drowsy look to him. He was still only wearing pyjama pants, and his abs were still gorgeous. Rose rested eyes on them, only because she knew he was too tired to notice. When he was younger, he had been an early bird, but nowadays he was always morning tired.

They finished their breakfast, and Rose kissed Scorpius's cheek.

"Bye. I'll be back here tonight, see you then. I think there will be enough time between us if I go now and you go when you have showered and dressed", she said, already preparing to get out of the cottage.

"Fine", he yawned. A shower would do him good, even though it would wash away that adorable morning hairstyle. She was surprised his hotness hadn't given him more girlfriends in third and fourth year. There had to be some Slytherin girls who wanted him to be something more than just friend/eye candy. There were probably even a lot of girls in sixth year who would die to be together with him. But to be honest, Rose had rarely seen him with any of those girls fawning over him. He always seemed to focus on school and their secret friendship. That was a really admirable trait; he cared more for his grades and his friends than for some girl he knew he wouldn't last with.

With one last smile at his tired expression, she left the cottage and made her way back to the school. Besides a flash of white in the corner of Rose's eye, that looked to be Cilena, the forest was silent and empty.

* * *

When she came back to her common room, a sixth year prefect eyed her suspiciously.

"Rose. Where have you been? I didn't see you this morning, did you miss breakfast? When did you leave?" he asked, and Rose rolled her eyes.

"I went for a walk around the Black Lake really early this morning, and now I've spent the last few hours in the library. I was reading about silent spells. Relax", she smirked. He would believe her – it could have been true.

"Why were you reading about silent spells? You don't have to master that until sixth year. Don't you think it's hard enough anyways?" he questioned her, and she shook her head with a wide smile.

"It never gets too hard." With that, she finished the conversation and turned around to go to her dorm. In the corner of her eye, she saw the prefect slowly shake his head.

She didn't have to read about silent spells, she had perfected them already in fourth year. She knew it was extremely early, but James had been in his sixth year back then, and he had challenged her to perfect the use of silent spells before he did. It had been with only a day, but she had succeeded before him. That still bothered him.

She used it everywhere but in classes. She didn't want the professors to know yet. It would be such a great beginning of sixth year, to be asked to try a silent spell and then success on her 'very first try'. She grinned by the mere thought.

As she entered her dorm, Lucy jumped up from her bed, squealed and blurted out all her questions and assumptions at once.

"How did it go? Is he as nice as last year? Is he as fit as last year? Are you in love with him yet? Is he in love with you? Will you get together already? Was the cottage untouched? Was Pretty there? She must have been, it was your first visit this year. Did you have to fight anything? Did you sleep well? Did…" Lucy babbled.

"Stop it!" Rose yelled. Lucy fell silent and waited for a response to her questions. "It did go great. He is as nice as last year if not even nicer. He is definitely more fit than last year – this summer was good to him. I am not in love with him, I would be greatly surprised if he would turn out to be in love with me, and we're not getting together since we are just friends. The cottage was just as we left it, and Pretty visited a few minutes after I came. We didn't have to fight anything, not exactly. On my way to the cottage I blasted away a few Acromantulas, but you know… Nothing out of the ordinary. And yes, I slept well. I woke up just an hour ago. Did that answer your questions?" Rose finished, and Lucy nodded sullenly.

"I suppose so. But I still think you should begin to date him! I mean, he's hot, right?"

"The hottest guy at school", Rose had to admit.

"And he's nice?" she continued, and Rose silently nodded.

"He's as intelligent as you, which is an achievement."

"Almost as intelligent. He don't know how to use silent spells", Rose smiled. Lucy rolled her eyes.

"He's still perfect! Why don't you want to date him?" she asked.

"I don't know Lucy… I just don't like him like that, you know?" Rose tried to explain, but Lucy just shook her head.

"No, I don't. I don't know. I think you'd be perfect for each other", she grunted. Rose just laughed and changed the subject.

"Can we have our lunch late today? I ate my breakfast less than an hour ago", she begged. Lucy rolled her eyes again.

"Fine. But you guys should really invest in an alarm clock, or at least an alarm spell. You won't be able to sleep tonight!"

"Won't be necessary. I'm going back tonight", Rose smiled.

"Ditching me again, I hear", Lucy grinned. Rose pushed her a little, and grinned back.

"You know it isn't like that. You will always be my best friend."

"I know, I know. Ditto."

* * *

**Scorpius's POV**

* * *

Scorpius was snogging Melina Rosier. She was a pretty, black-haired fourth-year, and a family friend. He supposed he enjoyed snogging her. His parents probably expected him to marry her someday. She was Slytherin. She was pure-blood. She was pretty. She was the perfect candidate.

He didn't feel particularly much for her, though. She could be rather cold and mean sometimes. What troubled him was – it wasn't a façade. Her personality really was cold and mean. And he wasn't attracted to her anyways.

He wasn't attracted to anybody in particular. All girls in Slytherin were just the same as last year, and the girls from the other houses weren't an option. Gryffindors were enemies, Hufflepuffs were too meek and Ravenclaws were far too buttoned-up. Well, perhaps not Rose. But he wasn't in love with her either, and even if he had been, she was a Weasley. Scorpius didn't judge anybody, but his father sure did. If Scorpius fell in love with and married a Weasley – even one who had had the sense not to get sorted into Gryffindor – his father would probably disinherit him. It seemed like something Draco could do.

In the middle of snogging Melina, he glanced at the clock. Time to go.

"Hey Mel… Mel, come on! I got to go", he said as he broke free from her. She looked annoyed and disappointed.

"Where are you going Friday nights anyways? Is it really more important than me?" she asked with a lingering smile. Scorpius gave her a look that he knew reminded a lot of the look he would have given somebody who asked if Quidditch _really _was more important than Wizard's Chess.

"Yes", he answered curtly, before he picked up a few books he wanted to bring to the cottage and left the common room. He heard Melina call after him one more time before the stone wall shut close behind him.

Heading towards the exit of the Dungeons, he bumped into Professor Wing. She was the head of Slytherin, and when she saw who it was she had bumped into, she raised her brows.

"Scorpius. How are you? Why aren't you in the Slytherin Dungeons?" she asked him. Scorpius gritted his teeth – she was too curious for her own good.

"I'm fine, professor. I just needed a little fresh air." As he saw how sceptical she looked, he reluctantly added to his reasons. "And I might have felt a need to escape a certain fourth year", he mumbled. Professor Wing smiled a crooked smile.

"Melina Rosier, is it? I believed you liked her", she stated. Scorpius shrugged.

"I guess I do, but, occasionally, she can be rather clingy." Professor Wing frowned, but let it go.

"Very well then. As long as you don't overuse the privilege it is to be allowed outside after curfew I can't see any reason to drag you back to the Slytherin common room. Except that a certain fourth year might be missing you", she added with a wink. Scorpius smiled back at her as polite as possible, before they said goodbye to each other and walked away in opposite directions. When Professor Wing was out of earshot, Scorpius let out a breath he had not known he held. The professor had made it clear to him that only because he was allowed outside after curfew, didn't mean he was supposed to run about the corridors at night.

He didn't plan to, either. He was going out for some fresh air, just as he had said. Some fresh air in the middle of the Forbidden Forest, that's all.

* * *

Scorpius reached the glade and concluded Rose already was there – light was flowing out of the windows. It was glass in the windows, but it was to keep the weather outside rather than the warmth inside. A spell kept the cottage at perfect temperature all year round.

Scorpius silently opened the door and was immediately met by the sight of Rose, sitting in her bed, reading. She was completely engrossed in the book, and for the first time since the beginning of the term, he had an opportunity to watch her. Of course, they had seen each other in class, and as usual, worked together, but a part of their well-rehearsed play was not to look at each other more, or for longer, than necessary.

Her face had changed slightly over the summer. The changes were subtle and hard to put words on, but they made her look less like a child and much more like a young woman. As he thought of this, he realised she was surprisingly beautiful, with her uncontrollable mane of red, curly hair, pale, rosy skin and piercing, royal blue eyes. A handful of freckles scattered across a petite nose, above a mouth with unexpectedly plump lips. He shook his head, wondering what had gotten into him. He hadn't thought about Rose's looks for several years. He decided he had better make himself known, before she noticed him standing there looking at her. He silently put down the pile of books he had been carrying.

"Knock, knock", he said and mustered a smile. It was forced in the beginning, but when he saw Rose's reaction, it became easier and more natural. He really was happy to see her.

"Scor!" she squealed, and literally jumped out of bed and threw herself around his neck with a force he would have thought impossible for a girl her size. She had become a little taller over summer, but she was still a head shorter than he was.

"Gosh, Rosie, it's nice to see you too. Just don't break my neck, will you?" he said. He tried to sound serious, but her enthusiasm made him laugh.

She released him from the hug, and smiled the biggest smile he had said in months. It was the kind of smile you had to smile back at, whether you wanted to or not.

After looking his secret friend in the eyes for a few moments, he turned around and picked up the books again. Rose gave them a look and snatched the one on the top of the pile. Scorpius gritted his teeth when he saw what book it was. _Pride and Prejudice. _Rose would never let him get away with that.

"Really?" she asked with a giggle. Scorpius felt a blush creep over his cheeks and automatically went into defence mode.

"What? I know it's supposed to be a girl's book, but it's good, okay? I like the story", he tried to explain. Rose was still giggling, but obviously she tried to stop.

"No, Scor, it's alright. I think it's a wonderful story, too. You go ahead and… Reread it, I suppose." As she was still making fun of him, Scorpius decided he'd try to change the subject.

"Later. Now I want to know everything that happened during the holidays. I wish we could correspond, but our fathers would find out in no time."

When Rose nodded in agreement, Scorpius knew her response wouldn't be about her summer, and he pressed his lips together. The subject he accidentally had brought up always pained him to speak about.

"It's quite sad, when you think about it. That we can't even be friends without our fathers going crazy. Why do they hate each other so much?" she mumbled. It was a rhetorical question, but for some reason Scorpius still felt an urge to give her an answer. He needed to get some of the anger he felt towards his father, her father, the whole situation, out. He shrugged, and felt the sarcasm build up inside him.

"Oh, I don't know. But I'm sure the fact that they tried to kill each other several times during their school years has _nothing _to do with it. Or that my father was a Death Eater." As he said the last, he felt drained of all the anger and sarcasm. He just felt devastated. Rose immediately seemed to notice, took the books out of his hands and hugged him again. She was such a wonderful friend, and suddenly, Scorpius felt the urge to cry. He dismissed the thought and pushed back the tears. Instead, he looked Rose in her eyes. He opened his mouth to thank her, but she spoke before he had time.

"I don't care what your father has done. I know you're a great guy no matter what. Don't let those Gryffindors get to you", she muttered. It was obvious that, to her, it felt wrong to say anything bad about her family's house. That only made her words more important, and when she smiled a smile filled with all the happiness and encouragement she was able to put in one single expression, Scorpius had to smile back, although a very wry one.

"Thanks, Rosie." Scorpius had meant to say it with strong and confident voice, but it came out only as a whisper. Rose smiled again, before she caught side of something in the glade outside.

"Pretty!" she squealed and ran passed him and threw herself around the unicorn's neck with almost as much enthusiasm as she had thrown herself around his. Two years ago, they would never have dared to do something like that. They would have been afraid of startling the beast. Scorpius doubted Pretty would allow him to be as casual around her as she let Rose be, but that only made sense. Unicorns did prefer the touch of a woman, he had learned. Nevertheless, he followed Rose and greeted Pretty, too. Rose mumbled affectionately to the creature, but Scorpius couldn't make out what she said. It didn't matter, really. They never spoke with the unicorn of anything that really mattered, because even though she was a highly intelligent creature, Scorpius and Rose doubted she understood English.

* * *

When Pretty told them she wanted to leave, (they still didn't know how she did it, they just knew she didn't want to stay anymore) they let go of her and went back inside. Rose gave a big yawn and glanced at the clock.

"It's one o'clock. We should go to bed now", she said and sounded like she was about to collapse and fall asleep right on the floor.

"Yeah", he agreed. He felt relaxed, a feeling that disappeared when Rose suddenly ran to her bed, got hold of her nightdress and ran to the bathroom upstairs. When Scorpius realised what had happened, he cursed at her back. He couldn't believe he had actually forgotten! They were always competing to the bathroom, and now she wouldn't let him forget that he had forgotten about it.

As soon as she was out of sight, Scorpius changed from his robe to his pyjama pants. He then went to pick up the pile of books he had brought, and put them in their right place in the bookshelf. Had it not been so late, he would have begun to read _Pride and Prejudice. _He had already read it embarrassingly many times, but it was true what he had said earlier. He did love the story.

Rose stayed upstairs for more than ten minutes, and Scorpius silently wondered what took women so long in bathrooms. He spent the time browsing different books. When she finally came downstairs, he turned around.

Rose's nightdress fitted tighter than it had last year. It showed off more of her shapes, and Scorpius had to admit she looked good. A thin, somewhat scrawny teenager had left two months ago, and back was a young woman with some actual curves. He was amazed so much change could happen in such a small amount of time. She'd probably get a boyfriend rather soon.

Scorpius was looking at her, but subtle. Rose's desirous look was much more obvious, and Scorpius grinned at her.

"What's up, Rosie? Enjoying the view?" he asked, knowing that he had trained a lot of Quidditch over the summer and that the training had burned away whatever small amounts of baby fat left on his body.

Rose grinned back, but she didn't look away from his abs even for a second.

"Scorpius Malfoy, we both know you are pure eye candy. Let me enjoy myself a little." Scorpius was surprised she didn't roll her eyes or did some other sarcastic move. Did he look so good in her eyes? It was worth testing. With a smirk on his face he began to pose in different ways he knew would show off his muscles, and she eyed him thoroughly, eating him with her eyes. What if..? No. It wasn't possible. Was it? She couldn't be..? But would she really look at him that way if she wasn't? It had to be further tested.

"Come on Rosie, you know you want me", he said on joking matters, and, thanks God, now she did roll her eyes.

"I want a nice guy with your body. Big difference!" she exclaimed, and Scorpius grinned in relief. She wasn't in love with him, she was just enjoying the looks of his body. It made sense. Who wouldn't? He was looking at her too, by the way. Good friends could do that.

He would have preferred to just leave it like that, but Rose would get suspicious if he let an insult towards him pass unnoticed. Her words required a response, and he decided on a light, unserious one.

"I am a nice guy!" he yelled, and pointed at himself. Rose just laughed at him, and shook her head.

"Sure, whatever. Will you get yourself ready so we can go to bed already?" she asked. He rolled his eyes but gladly did what she asked. Even though she seemed not to have noticed, the situation just moments ago had been extremely awkward.

He went upstairs and got ready much quicker than she had, still, when he came downstairs again, she was almost asleep. She threw one last, longing look at him before she yawned so big he was afraid her jaws would go out of joint.

"Goodnight, Scor", she mumbled.

"Goodnight, Rosie", he answered.

Moments later, she was asleep. Scorpius lay wide awake for some time, thinking about the weird, friendship-sort-of thing he had with Rose. His feelings for her were only the ones of a friend, but he was afraid they were changing on her side. If she showed any signs of romantic affection, he would have to interfere. With that decision made, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

* * *

He woke up because somebody was shaking him and talking to him. Red hair, red hair everywhere. Rose. He made out the word 'breakfast', but he didn't really care. The bed was so soft… So welcoming… He mumbled some routine excuse, closed his eyes again and started to drift away…

"UP!" she yelled in his ear, and he jumped out of bed in pure shock. He sat down and ate autonomously, not bothering to keep up a conversation with the girl next to him. His brain wasn't working correctly yet, and therefore he doubted he would be able to say anything that made sense if he opened his mouth. The cold milk woke him up a little, and after some time, he managed to eat in his normal rate and with his normal manners.

They finished their breakfast almost exactly at the same time, and when they both stood up, Rose surprised Scorpius by kissing his cheek. Sure, they had been doing that by the end of last year, too, but now it seemed inappropriate somehow. It stirred his worries from last night a little.

"Bye. I'll be back here tonight, see you then. I think there will be enough time between us if I go now and you go when you have showered and dressed", she said as she put on her shoes.

"Fine", Scorpius yawned. Rose smiled at him, and left the cottage. Scorpius took plenty of time to make himself ready. When he had showered and dressed, he slowly walked back to the school grounds. The Acromantulas were after him, but they were easily kept away. He wasn't a third year anymore, he could handle a few spiders no matter what size.

* * *

When he entered the Slytherin Dungeons, Melina was there and wrapped herself over one of his shoulders within five seconds.

"Hi Scorp", she purred and kissed his neck.

"Mel", he greeted her, not really up for her fawning and cuddling.

"Where have you been? I haven't seen you since last night! You wouldn't want me to tell a professor, would we?" she asked and pressed herself closer to him. He frowned, and tried to escape her touch. It didn't work, so he figured he could talk her away from him, at least for the moment.

"Mel, if you told a professor I was out after curfew, the professor would think it acceptable because I am a prefect. Or, if said professor actually thought I had broken a rule going out, my father would find out. I would inform him that you were the one to give me away, and he would give your entire family a lot of problems. The Rosier family isn't as powerful as it used to be. Don't push your luck, Mel." Melina let go of him with an annoyed look.

"Gosh, I was just kidding. Can't you be a little less serious sometimes?" she asked.

"Why do you think I was made a prefect?" he answered. It was a rhetorical question, and he didn't await an answer before he fled to his dorm. He closed the door behind him, happy to find that the room empty. With a tired grunt, he climbed into bed and fell back asleep. He wasn't hungry for lunch anyways.

* * *

**And yes, finally chapter six is finished! I'm sorry it took so long. I will probably only update once a week, but if it hadn't been for this murdering headache, I would have updated yesterday.**

**Before I officially end this chapter and let you do something productive, I'll clear out a few names.**

**Lucy Grace – she is not based on Rose's (in my universe) younger cousin. I didn't even think about that Rose had a cousin named Lucy when I named Rose's best friend. Sorry if it caused any confusion.**

**Dean Fetcher – nope, not based on Dean Thomas. When I was trying to figure out a name for Dean, I immediately thought of Dean, but then I thought: I can't name him that, everybody will think of Dean Thomas. So, I tried to figure out another name for him. It wouldn't do. He was already named Dean in my mind, and I knew that if I chose some other name, it would feel completely wrong and I would write Dean half of the times anyway. So he's Dean. Deal with it people ;) (And sorry about all the 'Dean's in that explanation)**

**And that's about it, I believe. Review, and put my mind to ease.**

**See you around for the next chapter!**

**Hannoie**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter seven! I'm thinking a rather short, but kind of sweet chapter this time (of course I can't promise anything). We're still in year five, and I plan to stay there for a while :) See, I told you that between third and fifth year, all the boring development would happen. During fifth year, though, *SPOILER ALERT* the interesting development will take place…**

**Disclaimer: Nope, I'm still not J.K, and I doubt I will be the next chapter either.**

* * *

**Rose's POV**

* * *

To get back into her old patterns was terribly easy. The Forbidden forest all Friday nights, most Saturday nights and sometimes a night in the middle of the week. The rest of the time a normal life. She and Scorpius played their play as usual, being cold and barely civil to each other during classes.

On Saturday the third week of the term something different happened, though. She and Lucy were having lunch, and Dean Fetcher sat diagonally across from them. Rose peaked at him occasionally, but he never looked at her. Surely, he wasn't interested. When you sit that close to somebody you actually like, you don't look down at your food as if it was the most interesting thing in the world; quite the opposite.

Rose finished her meal and stood up, ready to leave the Great Hall with Lucy. Suddenly a voice made her turn back to the Ravenclaw table.

"Rose?" Dean asked, leaning forward. Rose studied him for a moment. His hair was a chestnut brown mess, his skin was pale, although not as pale as Scorpius's, and his eyes were a blazing blue, similar to her own eyes. He had a straight nose, a square jaw line, and a beautiful mouth. Yes, beautiful. There was no other word good enough. Except from being a prefect, he was also chaser in the Ravenclaw Quidditch team and newly made Captain. Rose new how fit he was. He was without a doubt the second hottest guy at school. Besides, intelligence practically shone from his eyes. Hence Ravenclaw.

"Yes?" she answered after a moment, a little breathless. Her knees felt like jelly. Would she be able to move? Dean smiled nervously and seemed quite unsure of himself.

"I… Well… I was just… Wondering… Would you like to go with me to Hogsmeade next Saturday?" he asked. He held Rose's gaze for a moment, before he looked away. For a moment, Rose just stared at him. Did this really happen? Had the guy she was in love with just asked her out? Was it even possible? Could it honestly be true? Rose slowly shook her head in amazement, but Dean saw it and took it as an answer.

"Oh… I see. Um, sorry. Just forget it. Let's pretend I never asked you, okay?" he asked, clearly blushing. Rose felt confused, before she realised what he was thinking.

"Yes! I mean, no. I mean… Yes, I'd like to go to Hogsmeade with you. I was just shaking my head because I didn't believe something like that would happen… Not because I was hoping for it. Because I wasn't. But… I like you, though. Kind of. I… Just wasn't expecting it. I didn't think you liked me that… Never mind." Rose abruptly stopped speaking and blushed profoundly as she realised what she had just blurted out. Dean just sat there, blinking confused.

"I'll see you Saturday, then", Rose finished, before she turned around and fled the Great Hall. She felt mortified, and Lucy's giggle next to her didn't help.

"That was almost as bad as I can be sometimes. By the way, you're tomato red. It isn't very attractive", she sniggered. Rose gave her an exasperated look.

"It isn't funny! I just made a fool of myself, and now he'll probably never want to see me again. I've ruined everything!" Rose complained. Lucy patted her reassuringly on her arm.

"I'm sure he won't remember a word of what you said. I can tell you he was too caught up in emotions to have any place left for actual thoughts. All he'll remember is that you said yes." Rose muttered something under her breath – she wasn't even sure what it was she said – but let it pass. She doubted it, though.

* * *

She didn't go to the cottage that Saturday, she was too busy having a real girl talk with Lucy. She felt assured Scorpius wouldn't go either, as he would mysteriously know she wouldn't show up.

The next Friday she went, though. He was already there when she arrived. He smiled at her when she threw herself around his neck with a happy laughter, but the look he gave her was slightly curious.

"You've been acting like this all week. What's up, Rosie? You've been walking on air during every single class. You've almost been friendly too me, and you know what happens if we get too friendly in class. They will put us with other partners, and I would hate that, because I wouldn't be able to work together with any of those dunderheads."

"Don't call them that! They're not dunderheads, especially not Lucy or Dean…" As she dragged on Dean's name, Scorpius eyes her suspiciously.

"So what's up? Why have you been so happy?" he asked her, seemingly unable to force back a little smile at her dreamy eyes and grinning mouth.

"Well… Dean Fetcher asked me out on a date! To Hogsmeade, tomorrow!" she squealed, pure joy etched in her face. Scorpius first looked utterly surprised, then a big smile spread over his lips.

"Really? That's amazing, Rosie! Congrats, really. It seems he has finally realised what a huge crush you had on him all fourth year", Scorpius mused with a wicked grin upon his lips. Rose smacked his arm.

"Come on! I wouldn't call it huge, I wouldn't even really call it a crush. I just like him", she mumbled, blushing. Scorpius grinned even wider, but let it pass.

"Sure, whatever, Rosie. But if you have a date tomorrow at ten, why are you here by midnight? Won't you need your beauty sleep?" he asked her with his brows raised.

"I really just came here to tell you why I can't stay tonight. I have to get back to the castle. Preferably, I would have been asleep by now, but I couldn't just ignore you. It's Friday night, after all, and it would have felt wrong not to come here, even for just a little while", she admitted.

"Ah, all right. You go now and get your sleep, and then I'll go 20 minutes from now. I'll see you… Tomorrow? Next Friday?" he asked, his grey eyes unusually hard to read.

"Well, I doubt Lucy will let me out tomorrow night, but I'll definitely see you next Friday! And then I'll make it up to you for not staying here today. Okay?" she asked, and gave him a puzzled look. An emotion she couldn't really pinpoint flickered deep inside those grey, stormy eyes. He shrugged.

"Sure. It's your time, Rosie. If you'd rather spend it fawning over some Ravenclaw guy than spending it with me, well, it's your choice." A little smile played on his lips, to indicate that he was just joking around with her. She smiled back, but still had this odd feeling something wasn't really as it was supposed to be. After a moment of consideration, she shook it off.

"Well then, I'll see you next week."

"Yeah. Good luck with your date, Rosie."

"Thanks, Scor."

A moment later, she left the cottage.

* * *

Saturday with all its excitement was here, and Rose was up already by eight o'clock. She showered, before she dried herself and her hair with a single, silent sweep of her wand. She thought about what to do with her hair for a moment. It was red, thick, wild and curly, but not bushy like her mother's. Many people had been jealous of her hair, and she actually kind of liked it. It reached the small of her back, and together with her pale skin, blue eyes and the handful of freckles, it gave her an oddly appealing appearance.

She decided to have it down. It just looked awkward in a ponytail, and it looked like the hair of a werewolf in a braid. A simple centre parting let it flow freely, and she knew that was the way it looked the nicest.

Next problem was what to wear. As she entered her bedroom again, Lucy was already half through her wardrobe, trying to find something a little more flattering than Rose's usual clothes. Rose wasn't really a tomboy, but she owned very few dresses, and her other clothes weren't exactly revealing. Lucy sighed in frustration.

"You have nothing. Nothing! If you weren't so short, you could have borrowed something good-looking of mine, but as it is now, I'm afraid we will have to attack what little you have with magic", she growled. She was right – Rose was short. She had inherited her paternal grandmother's – Molly Weasley's – height; she was just above 5 ft. 3. Molly was also responsible for the curls in Rose's hair, as none of the other Weasleys had it. But she hadn't inherited Molly's physique; while Molly was a little plump with plenty of bone, Rose was slim and petite, just like her mother. Until recently she had often been assumed to be younger than she was, but over summer she had developed some curves, which thankfully showed what age she really was.

Rose turned her attention back to her annoyed best friend, and nodded. Lucy immediately clapped her hands, and turned back to Rose's bed. She went through the clothes there for a little while before she picked up one of the two dresses Rose had brought.

"Well, this will do. Now listen to me very closely. You are better than me in every area of magic, and especially transfiguration. You can transform this dress into whatever you like, but that's not going to happen. You are going to transform it into whatever _I _like, because it doesn't matter how intelligent you are – I will still always have the better sense of fashion." Lucy's statement made Rose roll her eyes, but nevertheless she nodded again.

"Good. Now begin with…"

* * *

The clock was almost ten when Rose entered the Entrance Hall. The dress she was wearing wasn't even remotely resembling the dress it had been in the beginning. The dress had been a simple, pale yellow thing with straps and a rather long and rather tight skirt.

Now, it was completely different. The dress had a beautiful olive tone to balance her fierce red hair. It had long sleeves, and instead of the straight, innocent neckline the dress had had before, it was now V-neck; tempting without being too daring. The dress was tight down to the hip, where it suddenly swept freely against her legs. It covered her to just below the knees. The material also felt nicer, classier. It was probably the hottest thing she had ever worn, and she was so happy she would wear it on a date with one of the hottest guy at school.

Her outfit didn't end there, though. One pair of her shoes was transformed into a pair of low, classy heels, and even though Rose had refused to let Lucy do anything with her hair, she now wore a little makeup. All in all, she felt satisfied. Dean wouldn't be disappointed.

* * *

Ten o'clock sharp Dean entered the Entrance Hall. He scanned the room for a moment, before he caught sight of Rose and his jaw dropped. Rose acted a little bit more composed, but she was still admiring his obvious hotness. He wore a pair of slightly faded jeans, a white t-shirt and above that an unbuttoned, black or dark blue blazer. His hair was messy as usual, but somehow it seemed a little more… Arranged, today. She just couldn't believe she was actually going out with him. It was amazing. It was fantastic. Rose was so incredibly happy, and she couldn't help but smile her very biggest smile when he made his way to where she stood, waiting for him. Of course, he smiled back.

"Wow. You look… Absolutely stunning", he said as he reached her in the crowd. They weren't exactly the only ones going to Hogsmeade during Hogsmeade Saturdays, and especially not a day like this. Even though early October, the temperature was over 20 degrees Celsius, and the sun shone down on the school and the village without a cloud in its way. It was an absolutely wonderful day.

"Thanks. You too", she responded.

"Thank you." After a moment of awkward silence, Dean made a movement with his head towards the wide open doors leading to the village, and Rose begun to walk next to him. After a little while they managed to break the ice and chat more freely. She found out he shared her interest in Transfiguration, and when he heard what she had done to the dress she wore, he laughed wholeheartedly. She was happy to find that he was just as kind, intelligent and witty as he appeared, and with every moment that passed, she felt herself fall more and more in love with him.

* * *

It was barely an hour left until they would have to head back to the castle. A few clouds had begun to drift over the sky, and when a chilly wind swept down and made Rose shiver, Dean quickly lead them into The Three Broomsticks. It was warm and crowded in there, but they managed to get a small table in the corner of the bar for themselves.

"I'll go order", Dean immediately said. Rose tried to tell him she could pay for herself, but he stopped her.

"No, you're not going to stop me from pretending to be a gentleman. Now, what would you like?" he asked, and Rose thought to himself that he absolutely didn't have to pretend, because he already was the perfect gentleman. She also appreciated that he asked her what she really wanted, and not just assumed that he already knew. Many guys of her acquaintance would have asked 'Butterbeer?', and that would have been as much choice as she would have had in the matter. Dean, on the other hand, asked her what she wanted. That she actually wanted butterbeer wasn't really important.

"Butterbeer, please", she told him with a smile, and he smiled back. A couple of minutes later he was back, holding a mug of butterbeer in each hand, giving her the one with slightly more of the warm, soothing liquid. Could a guy be more perfect? Doubtful.

They made small talk while slowly sipping on their butterbeers and taking in the view of the busy bar. Rose was left handed, and therefore her right hand was hanging unused next to her body. Suddenly her fingers touched the fingers of his left hand. Her first reflex was to pull away, but before she had time, he took her hand with his. Rose caught her breath and stared into the kind, intelligent, _sexy _eyes of Dean Fetcher. He slowly leaned forward, and so did she. This moment was magic. True magic, magic she had never experienced before. In just a moment their lips would meet… And it would be magical.

Their lips did meet. And it _was _magical. Their lips moved together, and Rose felt that he was almost as unsure about this as she was. She should have known; kind, wonderful Dean hadn't been playing around. Perhaps this was his first kiss, just as it was hers?

He kissed well, though. Rose immensely enjoyed herself the few seconds I lasted, and when they broke apart she felt a little out of breath. They kept looking into each other's eyes.

"Rose", Dean begun, but his voice sounded a little hoarse, so he cleared his throat and tried again.

"Rose. Um… I'm not really sure what to say. I've never done this before, but… I really like you. Like, really, really like you. So… Would you like to hang out sometime? You don't have to if you don't want to…" he mumbled, but here Rose interrupted him. Dean's mumbling, stuttering and blushing was endearing, but it would be cruel not to assure him of her feelings now.

"I'd love to", she said with her biggest smile on her lips. Dean relaxed visibly.

"Great! Um… Are you ready to leave? I know we haven't finished our butterbeers, but if we don't go soon, we'll be back later than we should." He shrugged.

"I'm ready. I just wish I'd brought my bloody cloak. It's getting quite chilly out there", she muttered. Rose hadn't meant to imply anything, but Dean – as the true gentleman he was – immediately insisted she should wear his blazer on the way back. Rose tried to refuse and say that it would make him freeze instead, but he just shook it off.

"Really, I'm not going to walk around in my blazer when my date is freezing. End of discussion, Rose." It might could have sound harsh, but in his voice was only kindness and concern. Finally, Rose gave up.

"Alright then. Thank you", she said as they exited The Three Broomsticks. Suddenly wanting to express her feelings in something more than words, she stood on tiptoe and gave him a little kiss in the corner of his mouth. He blushed profoundly, but still seemed pleased. After a moment of hesitation, he reached out and put an arm around her shoulders. With a little sigh of happiness, Rose put her arm around his waist, and together the couple begun to walk back towards the castle again.

* * *

**Scorpius's POV**

* * *

The weeks begun to pass by, and they were nothing out of the ordinary. The classes were normal, the cottage was normal, and Rose was normal. Scorpius's relationship with Mel was casual as always. He liked it that way. He had always heard of all legendary things that had happened on the school while his father had attended it, but he preferred the quiet and calm living over the adventurous one. Besides, Rose Weasley in the middle of the Forbidden Forest at night was all the adventures he needed.

Then, in the beginning of the fourth week of the term, Rose begun to act strange. She was practically dancing around during classes, smiling at everybody _including him. _It was dangerous, and she should know it. He tried to offset her friendliness being even more arrogant and unfriendly than usual to her. It was hard, though. He had grown accustomed to respond to that smile, and he had never realised exactly how hard it was to ignore it even in the classroom, because he had never earlier seen it in the classroom.

His haughty manners didn't seem to bother her, though. As usual, everything she did was of top quality, but somehow she didn't seem to be… Really there. Present. It was as if her mind was somewhere else, somewhere more beautiful. When Friday night finally came, he was on his way as early as possible. He knew she would come, although he doubted she would already be there when he arrived. He had never gone to the cottage this early before.

* * *

He had been right. Two hours later, when the clock was half past eleven, she finally entered the cottage. He stood up, and one moment later she hung from his neck, laughing with joy. He hugged her back for a moment, but the over-enthusiastic reaction fuelled his curiosity. He broke free and firmly stopped her from jumping on the spot. Okay, maybe not, but almost.

"You've been acting like this all week. What's up, Rosie? You've been walking on air during every, single class. You've almost been friendly too me, and you know what happens if we get too friendly in class. They will put us with other partners, and I would hate that, because I wouldn't be able to work together with any of those dunderheads." He called the rest of their class dunderheads, partly because it was true, partly because he knew Rose would come to their defence. He was right.

"Don't call them that! They're not dunderheads, especially not Lucy or Dean…" she scolded, and a suspicion begun to form in his mind. What if..? Well, if _that _was the case, he couldn't blame her. A small smile crossed his lips as he thought what a huge crush she had had on that Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain/Prefect/Professor's Darling last year. Had something finally happened between them? If it had, he was glad. The Ravenclaw, although perhaps a little buttoned-up, was a nice fellow, and Rose certainly deserved a nice fellow. All Scorpius needed now was confirmation.

"So what's up? Why have you been so happy?" he asked her, still smiling that little knowing smile. Rose didn't seem to perceive it as knowing, though, because when she opened her mouth again she had the looks of someone who was about to blurt an incredibly exciting _secret. _She didn't seem to understand it was written all over her face.

"Well… Dean Fetcher asked me out on a date! To Hogsmeade, tomorrow!" she squealed, and looked happier than Scorpius had thought a human being could.

A sudden pang in his heart caught him off guard. What? Why would any negative feelings of his connect with the fact that Rose had a date? He felt utterly surprised. He really shouldn't care, and if he cared, it should be in a positive way. A moment later he dismissed the feeling oddly resembling _jealousy, _and decided to be happy for his friend. _Friend. _

A big grin spread over his lips.

"Really? That's amazing, Rosie! Congrats, really. It seems he has finally realised what a huge crush you had on him all fourth year." He said so, only because it was what he knew he would have said if everything was normal. _Would have said? _It was what he said. Nothing in this situation was _not _normal. What was the matter with him? He decided he was just tired.

"Come on! I wouldn't call it huge, I wouldn't even really call it a crush. I just like him." As if her furiously blushing cheeks didn't give her away.

"Sure, whatever, Rosie. But if you have a date tomorrow at ten, why are you here by midnight? Won't you need your beauty sleep?" he asked her sceptically, raising her brows. She bit her lower lip.

"I really just came here to tell you why I can't stay tonight. I have to get back to the castle. Preferably, I would have been asleep by now, but I couldn't just ignore you. It's Friday night, after all, and it would have felt wrong not to come here, even for just a little while", she admitted. Scorpius understood, and he didn't really blame her. In fact, he was quite grateful she had decided to show up at all. He knew he would have been confused, maybe even a little hurt, if she hadn't come.

"Ah, all right. You go now and get your sleep, and then I'll go 20 minutes from now. I'll see you… Tomorrow? Next Friday?" he asked, working hard to keep his face neutral. The reason he did so was because he didn't know what feeling would cross his face if he let the feeling do so. Until he knew what he felt, he didn't want Rose to know.

"Well, I doubt Lucy will let me out tomorrow night, but I'll definitely see you next Friday! And then I'll make it up to you for not staying here today. Okay?" she asked, and studied his face thoroughly. Scorpius felt a little numb, but he realised if he didn't convince her he was fine – he was, wasn't he? – she would begin to wonder. He let a sly smile play on his lips, and shrugged casually.

"Sure. It's your time, Rosie. If you'd rather spend it fawning over some Ravenclaw guy than spending it with me, well, it's your choice."

Rose smiled back, but she didn't seem completely convinced. Part of him hoped she would ask what was wrong. Maybe if she did, he would be able to get his own thoughts straight. Another part of him just wanted her to leave, so that he could go back to being simply happy because of her happiness, without any other, confusing feelings interfering. She chose the second option.

"Well then, I'll see you next week", she mumbled hesitantly. Scor smiled encouragingly at her.

"Yeah. Good luck with your date, Rosie", he said with all the enthusiasm he could muster.

"Thanks, Scor."

She was gone a few moments later, and Scorpius went to the bookshelf and picked a book. He sat down and begun to read while he waited for the 20 minutes to pass. He didn't really know what he was reading, but it didn't matter. He just wanted his thoughts sorted out, and focusing on them would definitely not help.

* * *

When he came back to the common room – he didn't care to sleep in the cottage unless he had Rose's company – Mel was still awake. She approached him, obviously out for a snog. Usually after meeting Rose he would push her away, because really, it felt wrong going from the person he cared most about in the entire world – as a friend – to Mel, as he barely even liked, just for a snog. It felt disrespectful. Now, though, he wanted something to occupy his mind – he didn't know why – and without a word he attacked Mel's lips. They were alone in the Slytherin common room, and therefore he could enjoy several minutes of snogging her before he felt properly dazed and went back to his dorm and fell asleep.

* * *

Scorpius had decided to follow Rose on her date. Not the stalker kind of following; he didn't feel some sort of twisted, unrequited love for her. He wasn't obsessed with what she did every moment of every day.

The 'concerned friend' kind of following. He told himself he just wanted to make sure Fetcher was nice to her. He seemed like a nice guy, but Scorpius knew many decent men who would turn completely different around women. At least he told himself so.

Now, he was watching Rose from the other side of the Entrance Hall. He was confident she wouldn't see him – he was hardly the only blonde in the crowded room. Her hair excelled in the crowd, though, and even more so against that dress of hers. It was olive coloured, and it truly highlighted her fair skin and red hair. He was certain he had never seen it before.

Now, Fetcher entered. He looked around for a while, until his eyes found the big, red mane that was Rose's hair. He made his way towards her, and even from a distance Scorpius could tell that they were happy to see each other, but a little awkward. From their point of view, it was a good thing. From _his _point of view… Well, he hadn't decided yet. Although he didn't really have a reason not to want their date to go great, something held him back. He would have to get rid of this something as soon as possible, he thought.

When they began to walk towards the village, he followed perhaps 10 yards behind. They were hardly alone on the road to Hogsmeade, and Scorpius felt assured that if Rose turned around, she wouldn't see him. Even if she did, what did it matter? Four minutes past ten, and it was nothing weird if he was walking towards Hogsmeade. Everybody did.

* * *

With a little less than an hour left of the Hogsmeade time, Fetcher and Rose entered The Three Broomsticks. The awkward atmosphere was long gone, and now they seemed perfectly comfortable in each other's company. Fetcher hadn't tried any romantic moves yet, but he glanced at her constantly. At _her, _not her tits, Scorpius reluctantly had to admit. _Reluctantly?_

Fetcher managed to get a table, and she sat down as he went to the bar counter where Scorpius sat, to order drinks.

"Two butterbeers, please. A little extra for the lady – she was cold a moment ago", Scorpius heard Fetcher say, and his eyes widened in disbelief. Really? _Really? _This guy noticed she had been cold, and then bought her extra much butterbeer to get her warm again? Scorpius wanted to drop some sarcastic comment – _don't be _too_ perfect now, that know-it-all could use a challenge for once in her life – _but he just didn't see the point. Why did he even want to drop such a comment? One of his best friends had caught a guy as close to perfection as you could hope to come; Scorpius should be happy. And he was, he supposed. Not just as happy as he ought to be.

Fetcher went back to the table, and a little part of Scorpius hoped he would take the mug with more butterbeer for himself. Of course he didn't.

For a while they just sat there, drinking butterbeer and chatting in what seemed to be an amiable way. Then suddenly something happened. Scorpius didn't quite make out what, but suddenly they held hands and stared into each other's eyes, all woo-y and romantic. They leaned closer, and closer, and-

They kissed. Scorpius just stared at them as their mouths connected, moved together. A strong feeling whirled inside him, but he didn't know what it was. He didn't recognize it, and he dismissed it. Then the kiss was over, and thankfully, so was the feeling. It had made him uncomfortable.

After a few more moments of obviously awkward conversation, which ended in big smiles on both of their faces, they stood up from the table, even though they hadn't finished their butterbeers. For a brief moment, Scorpius wondered why – perhaps they had realised they didn't feel anything for each other and now parted as friends – before he glanced at the clock and realised what reason they had. It was a quarter left until they had to be back in the castle, and as the true Ravenclaws they were, of course they wouldn't risk getting too late.

And of course Fetcher decided to avoid the last trap this date had set out for him – the chilliness in the air outside. He took off that weird muggle jacket he had – it wasn't even good-looking, even though Rose seemed to think so – and helped her put it on.

A few moments later, they went outside. Scorpius followed just in time to see Rose give him another brief kiss, this one in the corner of his mouth, before he put his arm around her shoulders and they walked away. The feeling flared up inside Scorpius again, but this time it didn't quite go away. He tried to make it disappear, but it apparently didn't want to. With a frustrated frown on his face he tried to ignore it as he slowly walked back to the castle, determined not to let what he had seen the last few hours get to him in any kind of way, ignoring the fact that it had already.

* * *

**Okay, and that was chapter seven. Finally! I'm sorry I always update so late; I'll try to post on Saturdays from now on, even though I can't promise anything.**

**You know what would help? Reviews! Reviews are my bribe, and I only had one single review on my last chapter, hence the late update. If you give me more reviews, I'll write faster, longer and better. Promise. Reviews is what fuels my inspiration, and right now, the tank is empty. So, I hope I'll see one or another for this chapter ;)**

**See you around for the next chapter!**

**Hannoie**


	8. Chapter 8, Rose's POV

**Merry Christmas everybody! I'm so so so sorry for this delay, I really didn't mean for it to happen. School before Christmas is crazy, and when I caught a cold in the middle of everything… Yeah. So, even though I haven't written Scorpius's POV quite yet, I figured you deserve something now during the Christmas Holidays. I'll try to update again before New Year, but life will take a lot of time, and I'm afraid I can't make any promises.**

**I live in Sweden, and in Sweden we celebrate Christmas today, Christmas Eve. I just got my presents, and among a lot of other wonderful things, my parents gave me the Harry Potter books in English! I was euphoric, until I unwrapped the package containing the first book. ****_Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone. _****Yep. My parents gave me the American version, and right now, I feel really silly, because I just want to cry. I wanted the books in English, partly to see how they were written in the first place, partly to learn better British English. Isn't that stupid? I can't do either now. I was bold enough to ask my mum, and we probably can't change them either… This kind of destroyed my Christmas.**

**Very well. I'm sure you aren't very interested in my personal life; on we go with the story!**

* * *

**Rose's POV**

* * *

The next Saturday, Dean had asked Rose to be his girlfriend. She had happily agreed, and then they had shared their first real snogging session in a corner of the Ravenclaw common room. Sure, they had kissed a few times before, the most significant time being last Saturday at The Three Broomsticks, but those innocent kisses was nothing next to this, and Rose loved it. He was an amazing kisser, he was handsome, he was kind and polite, he was intelligent, he was witty… And he seemed to be just as madly in love with Rose as she was with him. Life was wonderful. Classes were challenging enough to keep her satisfied, but not hard enough to keep her completely occupied. When she wasn't writing on some essay, doing research for some project or preparing for her OWLs (yes, she was well aware of how early she was beginning to prepare, but she planned on getting straight O's) she spent time with either Lucy, Dean or both. Her life was perfect, and she had never been so happy in all her life.

She had but one concern; Scorpius. As the weeks passed by, he acted more and more strange. She couldn't quite fathom it. He was being cross and irritable sometimes, especially when she spoke of Dean. Perhaps that was it? Perhaps men had a problem listening to praise getting heaped on other men? If she spoke less about Dean when Dean wasn't around, then perhaps Scorpius would go back to normal.

She tried this new tactic, and to her surprise, it actually seemed to work. He was still acting a little odd sometimes, but she was happy they were back to normal, and that their friendship still was going strong. They were closer than ever.

Rose remembered one time they had almost happened to reveal their friendship. Rose shuddered when she thought about how close it had been.

* * *

It had been two weeks before Christmas, a common Wednesday. The night before had been one of the few weeknights they spent in the cottage, simply because the first snow had fallen. It had always been like that; whatever day it was, when the first snow had fallen they spent the night in the cottage, they just did. It was quickly becoming a tradition.

The night had been even more fantastic than usual. Pretty, who didn't always show up, had indeed come and stayed for longer than usual. When she had left, Cilena the centaur had come for a quick but pleasant visit. After her visit, they had gone to bed, but around three o'clock, both of them had woken up and gone out. The snow had been white and magical, giving the forest a new, peaceful look. Suddenly a white wolf had come out of the forest, touching both of them with its nose. They didn't know what it meant, but they were both sure it was something special about the white wolf. Something magical.

The next day they had been working side by side during potions class in companionable silence. Suddenly Scorpius had asked her for the pestle lying next to her.

"Could you give me the pestle, Rosie?" he asked with a smile. "I need it to crush these beans."

She smiled back at him, of course. She always responded to that smile.

"Here you go, Scor", she answered and gave him the pestle. They realised their mistake too late.

"Rosie? Scor?" Dean asked from the workbench behind them. They both turned around with blank expressions.

"Did we say that, sweetheart?" Rose asked as if nothing had happened. "I can't recall it."

"Neither can I", Scorpius agreed, his arrogant façade securely in place again. Dean eyed them suspiciously, before he shook his head.

"I'm certain. You called her Rosie, and then she called you Scor. And you smiled at each other." He shrugged. "I'm not jealous or anything stupid, meanly as that. I just didn't know you were friends, that's all. Every friend of Rose is a friend of mine", he finished with a smile. Rose felt herself melt of admiration for his kindness and his big heart, but Scorpius just sneered.

"We're certainly not friends. I tend to make friends that isn't from the Weasley family, thank you very much. _If _I called her Rosie, it's only because I've heard that stupid pet name from you and Grace one time too many. And I did not smile at her", he finished with a look so disgusted Rose thought he was worthy an Oscar (a very famous muggle movie prize).

"If you really aren't friends… Then why did you call Malfoy 'Scor'?" Dean asked Rose with a confused look in his eyes. Rose shrugged and quickly tried to come up with a convincing lie.

"Dean… You must have heard wrong. Think about it. The last part of my… Workmate's name is quite easy to miss, especially with all the potions brewing in here. I'd never call him Scor. We really aren't friends."

Dean gave her another look, but nodded, convinced.

"Alright, if that's what you're saying", he smiled with a shrug. Rose felt relieved.

"It is. Now let's get back to our potions before they boil over and explode, and I'll see you after class", she purred. Dean smiled lovingly at her.

"Alright, sweetie. Sounds great."

Rose turned back to her own bench as Scorpius made a disgusted sound. He pretended to lean over the bench to reach something, but in fact he whispered something in her ear.

"Too close. You're a bad liar. Only credulous Fetcher would fall for that." He leaned back before Rose had time to tell him that one, she was not a bad liar, and two, Dean was not credulous. Now, all she would do was roll her eyes before she went back to the potion.

* * *

That had been two weeks ago, and now it was time to go home for Christmas break. Dean had asked his parents, who had allowed him to spend Christmas with the Weasleys, as long as they got to meat Rose during Easter. Rose had, after consulting her parents, agreed. She felt assured their relationship would last that long. There was no reason at all for it to end.

After a few hours of last minute packing, fetching owls from the owlery and general chaos, they finally managed to get on that train. Al had to sit in her and Dean's compartment, because there was no room anywhere else on the train, but he tried to give them as much privacy as possible. Rose knew that he knew that if he tried to speak to them, Rose would downright ignore him, and while she thought Dean would try to keep a conversation with him, she felt assured Dean would definitely much rather focus on her.

The train ride was very pleasant, and when they finally arrived at King's Cross Station, it was dark outside since long. Rose felt herself grow nervous – Dean was about to meet her parents for the first time ever. Of course, he knew who they were. They had literally saved the world, nobody in the Wizarding world didn't know who they were. But he had never met them, and the first meeting worried her. She felt fairly sure her mother wouldn't embarrass her – Hermione was always composed, professional and pleasant. It was dad she worried about. She couldn't know for certain if he would act overly protective, embarrassing or just downright rude. Her stomach twisted when she thought about how he could be sometimes. Hopefully he wouldn't be like that over this Christmas.

They stepped of the train with their luggage, and were immediately met by Ron and Hermione. Rose braced herself for what would come, and still, she knew this was only a soft start. Soon they would have to face the redheaded, mad mess that was the extended Weasley family. If he was still with her after that, she knew he was The One.

"Hi, Rosie. Welcome back", Hermione said with enthusiasm and hugged her tightly. "And Hugo!" she exclaimed and let go of Rose, only to be followed by her husband. After all the hugging was done, Hermione and Ron turned simultaneously towards Dean. Hermione smiled a nice although slightly reserved smile at him.

"You must be Dean Fetcher", she said and shook his hand. Dean then turned to shook Ron's.

"Indeed. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr and Mrs Weasley", he answered, politeness personified. Rose felt her heart swell. Hermione raised an arched eyebrow.

"Pleasure indeed? May I ask you why? I remember the first time Ron met my parents as my boyfriend; I can assure you he wouldn't describe it as a pleasure", she argued. Rose gritted her teeth and wished her mother could direct her clever arguments at anybody but her boyfriend. Dean didn't seem taken aback, though.

"It must be. Rose is an intelligent, compassionate, kind, honest and confident witch. I think that much of a person's personality depends on the upbringing. A person as great as Rose simply must have amazing parents." He spoke of it as plain facts, not as if he was trying to flatter himself into getting an approval. It only made Rose love him more.

Now, Ron decided to speak.

"Well, Dean, it's a pleasure to meet you to. See, you're the first boy she has ever mentioned. Not even a fling during her first four years. I and her mother were almost becoming a little worried. All we can say is; finally!" Ron exclaimed. Rose felt a blush creep over her cheeks. The decision was made, then. Ron was going with embarrassing.

Again, Dean handled it with surprising tranquillity.

"Another one of your daughter's admirable traits; she doesn't rush into relationships. She's very thoughtful. It makes me feel special", he said with a smile directed at Rose. Relieved, she smiled back. After a little more small talk, where Rose, Hermione and Dean did most of the work, they began to walk back to the car. Ron decided to speak again.

"Dean, how did you two begin to see each other? Rosie Posie here has been very secretive, and we haven't been able to get the story out of her. You must tell us." At Ron's words, Rose blushed again. Partly because Ron had told Dean about her old pet name, partly because Ron was being so blunt. This time, Dean did blush a little.

"Well… I had this crush on Rose all fourth year, but I didn't dare to ask her out, because I couldn't imagine why an amazing girl like her would want to go out with a normal guy like me. However, at the beginning of this term, I dared to ask her and… She actually said yes. I still don't understand why", he said, looking into Rose's eyes.

"Are you kidding me?" she asked disbelievingly. "You're handsome, you're intelligent, you're kind, you're humble… The list goes on forever. On our first date you never said one thing that sounded stupid or unconsidered, you bought me my butterbeer and you let me lend your blazer when I was freezing."

Dean just shook those words off, shrugging.

"Every guy would be like that on a date", he said, blushing slightly. Rose shook her head.

"No. There is… About one guy at Hogwarts who would be like that on a date, and I'm currently lucky enough to date him. And you're just proving my point, you know. You're humble again."

Now, Ron and Hermione turned their attention to Hugo, and Rose and Dean walked next to each other in comfortable silence for a little while. Then Rose remembered what else Dean had said.

"Wait… You had a crush on me all fourth year?" she asked, her eyes big.

"Yeah…" he mumbled, blushing. "I just didn't dare to ask you out. You're so amazing, and I'm just… Me."

"I didn't dare to ask you out, because I felt exactly the same. You're amazing, and I'm just me. And yes, I had a crush on you in fourth year, too", she admitted reluctantly. Dean just stared at her.

"You felt that way? But… Why wouldn't I like you? You're the most amazing witch at Hogwarts, of course I would have said yes."

"You're the most amazing wizard – of course I would have said yes if you had asked me", Rose countered. Dean smiled a crooked smile, shook his head and glanced at her parents. They were still attacking Hugo with questions about the past year.

"I love you, Rose. You know that, right? I love you", Dean said softly. Rose felt her heart melt, and a brilliant smile spread over her lips.

"I love you too, Dean."

Moments later, they reached the car. It was bigger on the inside than on the outside, thanks god. Otherwise they would not have been able to fit all five people and the luggage in there, but as it was now the car had plenty of room to spare.

* * *

The Weasleys lived in a white two story house, in an idyllic little muggle residential area. They were on 'waving and smiling while fetching the mail from the mailbox in the morning'-terms with the neighbours. The main reason for this was the house. Oh, the outside was fine. Just a house like everybody else. It was the inside that would cause trouble if somebody entered.

When you first stepped into the hall, you would be met by a walking coat-hanger. Yes, it was actually walking, and it would take your coat off. Rose always thought of _Beauty and The Beast _when she saw it, since there was a similar one in the old Disney movie.

When the coat was off, you would find yourself staring directly into the kitchen and further into the laundry room. If you had somehow failed to notice the walking coat-hanger, now you would realise something wasn't the way it was supposed to be. The kitchen had no oven, no fridge and close to no bench surfaces except from the small kitchen table, and still the cooking worked out just fine. On its own. The food cooked itself, just as the laundry washed itself. Yet, on one of the few benches there were, you could see a toaster.

The toaster was Hermione's. Ron always complained the toaster made the bread unevenly toasted, and that magic would make the toast taste nicer and stay hot. Hermione wouldn't listen, though. She always said that a toast wasn't a toast without a toaster, and that she refused to live in a house without any of those muggle accents that made life easier. Ron wouldn't agree about the easier part, but he let it pass. He knew better than starting an argument with his slightly bossy wife.

To sum it up, muggles in the house wouldn't be a good idea. The house was such a mix of magic and muggle, nobody could miss it. When Rose was younger, she used to play with a couple of the muggle girls living on the same street, but since they would never be allowed to come visit, they and Rose had begun to drift apart after a while. The friendship had officially ended when Rose had begun at Hogwarts – the girls' mothers didn't think their daughters should be playing with a snobby girl who had to be sent away so some fancy boarding school, as if the local school didn't do. That turn of event could have bothered Rose had she not been so eager to go to Hogwarts, but as it was, she had taken it with a shrug. Ever the reasonable child, she had seen it coming for a while.

* * *

When Rose now entered her house with Dean, she threw a critical eye around the parts she could immediately see. The hall – fine. Kitchen – fine. Laundry room – door closed. Good. Rose exhaled with relief. Hermione, always the tidy, had made sure the house looked extra polished today. Rose gave her a grateful smile behind Dean's back, as he laughed in surprise when the coat-hanger took his coat off. He looked into the kitchen, watching the food cook itself for a moment, before he turned around and smiled at Rose.

"Wow. Just, wow. Your house is amazing, completely amazing. Marvellous. I…" Now, he glanced at Ron and Hermione's smiling faces, before he continued speaking. "I'm muggle-born, and I had no idea your houses were so amazing. I should have realised, though." He blushed slightly, and Ron finally managed to do the right thing.

"Nonsense! How could you have known? I have always known about muggles, but before I was… Twelve? Well, I had no idea what a… Tel… Phellytone?"

"Telephone, darling", Hermione quickly corrected him.

"Erm, yes, tele… phone. I had no idea what that was. When I found out, it was only because my father – Rose's grandfather – is obsessed with muggles, and when I did find out, I thought I would have to scream in it, or the receiver wouldn't hear what I was saying…"

"Honey, what's your point?" Hermione asked in a gentle tone, used to her husband's turns and twists. Rose smiled at how easy her mum steered Ron into the right direction again.

"Erm… My point was, since you come from a muggle family, you couldn't possibly know how a wizard's household is managed. And that's why you're here, isn't it? You ought to know before you run off and marry our little girl!" Ron blurted out, ruining everything.

_"Dad", _Rose hissed, blushing furiously. She and Dean had only dated a couple of months – how could her dad even joke about marriage yet?

"What? You've found a decent, muggle-born boy; your grandfather would kill you if you let him go now!" Ron defended himself. Rose suddenly wished the war hadn't been over. If it hadn't, there would have been a slight chance of a Death Eater attack this very moment. A lucky hit from one of them and she would have been dead. It would definitely have been preferable to this situation.

_"Dad!" _she cried, fighting the feeling of tears prickling in the corners of her eyes.

"Ron", Hermione began, chewing her lower lip. It was a clear sign of uncertainty on Rose's mother's part. Had it not been for Dean standing there, she probably would have yelled at her husband.

Suddenly, the subject of the discussion cleared his throat. Everybody turned around to look at him. Rose noticed Hugo had left the room, and she was happy he had. She did not need everybody at school to know about this conversation at the beginning of next term.

"I would never want to give Rose's grandfather any reason to kill his granddaughter, but seeing as we're only fifteen it could be a little early discussing marriage." Dean reached out and took a hold of Rose's hand. "Though, if my dreams were to come true, perhaps we could discuss it again in a few years, Mr Weasley?" he said with a wonderful smile in Rose's direction. Rose smiled back, admiring his natural way of handling embarrassing situations. Admiring his perfect smile, too.

Hermione spoke before Ron had any time to come up with an answer.

"Very well. Now, I'm sure you two want to follow Hugo's example; unpack and settle down a little before dinner. Dean, I've set up an extra bed for you in Rose's room. You'd want to…"

"What?" Dean interrupted, slowly blinking in shock. "In Rose's room?" he repeated.

"Well, yes. But only for two nights. At the Burrow, you'll probably share a room with James and Albus", Hermione answered, frowning in confusion.

"Do you… Do you trust me that much?" he asked. A moment later, he realised what it sounded like. "Not that I would try anything! I would be perfectly respectful, of course, but I'm just so… Surprised. If my twin sister – she's a muggle – would want her boyfriend to stay overnight, my parents would only agree if they knew him very well and trusted him very much, and then they would still set him up in the opposite side of the house." He shrugged when he was done explaining. Hermione still frowned.

"Well, if you feel very uncomfortable with sleeping in the same room as my daughter, of course I could prepare a guest room for you…" she trailed off. Dean quickly shook his head, to Rose's relief.

"That's not what I meant. The more time I get to spend with Rose, the better. I just wonder… How can you trust a person you've never met before enough to let him sleep in the same room as your daughter, unsupervised?"

Hermione smiled at him when she understood his concern.

"Dear, I'm sure you've noticed my daughter is a highly intelligent witch. She has a very good judgement, and if she trusts you enough to let you meet my husband, I can trust you enough to let you sleep in the same room as her", Hermione explained with a smile. Ron muttered something inaudible, but let it pass. Rose laughed heartily, and Dean had a smile playing on his lips. He was handsome, polite, friendly, intelligent… Rose absolutely loved him. She was happy she had finally told him, and that he loved her back. When a sudden wave of affection washed over her, she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. It would have been simply a peck. Had it lasted one second less, it would have been a peck. It wasn't a peck, though. It lasted too long.

"Come. Let's get up and… Unpack", she purred. Dean gave her a strange look, then glanced at her parents. After a moment, he nodded and picked up both his and Rose's suitcases.

"Dean, you know I can carry that on my own", Rose sighed.

"I know", he simply answered, but he didn't let go. She rolled her eyes and begun walking towards the staircase.

"Thank you, I suppose", she smiled.

When they had ascended the stairs, Dean gave her an uncertain look.

"We are… Only unpacking, right?" he asked. Rose smirked.

"Of course. Did I say anything else?" she answered, feigning innocence.

"No… I just don't want your parents to get the wrong idea about me", he explained. Rose gave him a look and shook her head.

"They won't. Well… Dad might. But that's alright – mum won't let him think badly of you for very long. She knows I'm just teasing them. Speaking of dad – _I'm sorry. _I thought he would react like this, but I hoped he would be able to at least keep his mouth shut. Let's just say I inherited my brains from mum", Rose apologised. Dean quickly shook his head.

"No need to apologise. Fathers tend to… Get protective when it comes to daughters. My twin sister has experienced this quite a few times already. The father finds out whether or not he likes the guy, then he makes clumsy attempts to either scare off the guy or glue him to the daughter. Your father has settled on the second", he stated matter-of-factly. Rose smiled.

"Well, I wouldn't exactly mind being glued to you… Then perhaps the professors would let us work together from time to time." She knew the last part sounded a little whiny, but she didn't care. That was yet another thing she loved about Dean; she didn't have to care about what she said or did. He simply loved her for the person she was. She knew it sounded cliché enough to make you puke, but it was true. She could actually be herself when she was with him, in a way she otherwise only could be with Lucy and Scorpius.

"Very funny", he smiled, rolling his eyes slightly. "Would you mind showing the way to your room now?" he asked. Rose smiled back at him, and nodded. She led him through a hallway to one of three doors, and with a reluctant sigh – who did ever want to show their boyfriend their room? – she opened it.

She knew she didn't have to worry. She loved her room – really, what Ravenclaw wouldn't? It was deep blue with bronze accents. She knew it was probably a little weird to want to be surrounded by her house colours even during breaks, but when she had come home from Hogwarts during Christmas her first year, she just couldn't sleep in her mainly red and golden room (plenty of the rooms in the house were Gryffindor inspired). She told her parents how wrong it felt, and when she came back over the Easter break, her room had been Ravenclaw enough to put the Ravenclaw tower to shame. She loved it, and hadn't changed a bit about it.

Now, she glanced at Dean. His mouth had dropped open, and Rose just had to smile at his expression. His eyes were about as big as saucers, and still, he looked incredibly hot. Rose felt a teeny, tiny bit jealous. She knew she was decently good-looking, but only as long as she kept her face in check. Guys like Dean and Scorpius could stretch their faces into miens that should look absolutely ridiculous – _did _look absolutely ridiculous on normal people like Rose – and manage to pull them off. It was rather aggravating.

"Wow. Again. I thought your _house _was amazing. Your room, though… It's better than amazing! Is it weird if a guy wants a room that looks like his girlfriend's?" he asked with a smile.

"Lucy was also jealous first time she saw it. She has tried to convince her parents to change her room ever since, but they won't do it. They have this black and white theme in their entire house, and they won't even let her change her own room. I didn't even know my parents were changing my room. They did it between Christmas and Easter my first year, as a surprise when I no longer felt comfortable in my Gryffindor inspired room. I think it was mum's idea. She's the one who notices things like that", Rose babbled. When she realised what she was doing, she snapped her mouth shut and clenched her teeth. This guy was making her sound more and more like Lucy; as if she had no barrier between brain and mouth. Everything that crossed her mind just flooded out. She smiled apologetically, but he just shook his head.

"I could try to convince my parents, but I'd probably get a no. We don't have that kind of money; I renovated my room only two years ago", he mumbled with a remorseful smile. A sudden idea crossed Rose's mind.

"Wait… _We_ can do that! My mum can definitely do that!" she cried in excitement. Only when she saw the look on his face, she realised what he thought she meant.

"Rose… I'm not going to let you or your family spend money because I'd like a room in Ravenclaw colours. No way", he said and shook his head. He looked genuinely offended. Rose gasped in surprise.

"No! No, wait, you misunderstood. Of course not. I don't ask you to take our _money. _Oh god, no. I'm sorry. No. I meant, my mum had an O, Outstanding, on her NEWT in Transfiguration. She could easily transform your room into a full-fledged Ravenclaw tower. Okay, if you don't already live in a tower, don't expect a tower, but at least a room. 100 percent free for all parts. No _money. _Oh God, I'm really not that rude", she blurted out. After a moment, understanding dawned on his face.

"Ah… I'm sorry, Rose. Muggle habits die hard, it seems. I didn't remember there were other ways to redecorate a room, now that I'm part of the Wizarding World." His face twisted into a grimace, and Rose felt that an apology on her part was in order, too.

"I'm sorry, too. I always forget that muggles have to pay for something as simple as redecoration. Really, you muggles have to pay for everything. However are you managing?" she asked with a teasing smile. He smiled back when he felt the tension ease.

"I guess we don't… Redecorate as often as you do", he answered her. Something about how his lips moved was extremely sensual. Rose found herself mesmerized, and when she finally snapped out of it, he was watching her with wondering eyes.

"Rose? What is it?" he asked, gentlemanly oblivious to the direction of her thoughts.

"Put the bags down over there", she motioned towards an empty corner. After a second, he did as she asked. He put the bags down and turned around again.

"What-", he begun, but got interrupted. Her lips attacked his, and whatever he was going to say drowned in the kiss. For a moment, he was too struck by surprise to do anything. Then, he responded. Slowly at first, but then he deepened his kiss, Rose wrapped her arms around his shoulders and-

Somebody in the direction of the door coughed.

Rose didn't care. She was kissing her boyfriend, which she was perfectly entitled to. Dean, on the other hand, did care. He jumped away as fast as he could, making Rose taking a step after him and uttering a little noise of disappointment. Surprise. Not disappointment. Surprise. She was surprised the kiss had ended, but now that it had, she'd better handle whatever had interrupted it.

She turned around and faced her father. Ron stood there staring at them, his face as red as a beetroot. Rose glanced at Dean, and discovered his face was a similar colour. Ron recovered the fastest.

"I was under the impression you were going to unpack, not… Engage in other activities", was his only comment. It was obvious he wasn't yet quite sure how to feel. Rose's eyes darted between Ron and Dean. She had a feeling Ron would unravel his thoughts soon enough, and that they would turn into anger. When Dean opened his mouth, Rose felt oddly relieved. Over the years, Rose had developed an ability to ignore her father's twists and turns, but Dean had an ability to handle them as only her mother and grandmother had previously done. She disliked relying on others, but in this case, she gladly relied on her boyfriend to sort out any issues her father had with their relationship. She didn't have the energy; the drive home had been more than enough.

"Mr Weasley… I'm terribly sorry, I didn't mean to…" he began, but trailed off. Rose looked up at him, and realised he was at a loss for words. One trifling apology was all he could do, and then he gave up, simply hoping her father wouldn't be mad? And what, exactly, was he apologising for? What, exactly, was it he didn't mean? Before Ron had interrupted, the kiss certainly had meant something.

"You're not sorry!" she hissed. Dean immediately turned his eyes to her.

"What? Yes-", he began to explain, but Rose shook her head.

"No. I'm your girlfriend. I think we've made that much clear. You are my boyfriend. A girlfriend and a boyfriend can kiss each other, and they shouldn't have to make excuses each time their parents catch them doing it. It was a kiss, Dean, dad. A kiss. I wouldn't call it perfectly innocent, but it wasn't going to become more than a kiss. Now stop apologising. Okay?" she demanded. Dean slowly nodded.

"Okay. Yes, you're right. I'm not sorry for kissing you, but I _am _sorry for practically giving your father a heart attack", he answered with a glance in Ron's direction. Rose followed his gaze, and saw that the shock was about to fade away. The poor man looked both traumatized and angry, but before he had time to venture his opinions, Rose spoke.

"Dad, let's face it. This was the first time you caught us snogging, but it will probably not be the last. Enough said." She challenged him with her eyes, and after a moment he decided to let it go. After a few seconds of embarrassing silence, he seemed to remember why he was there in the first place.

"Hrm… Well… Yes… Dinner's ready", he announced before he fled the scene and descended the stairs. Rose sighed and gave Dean a half-heartedly smile.

"I'm sorry for screaming at you. Two hours, and he's already getting on my nerves. I shouldn't have taken it out on you, though. Will you forgive me?" she asked, letting a hint of hope colour her voice. Dean returned her smile.

"There's nothing to forgive. And I will only stop apologising in situations where I have done nothing wrong, if you too will stop. Alright?" His smile made her melt, and all she could do was nod.

"Good. Let's go downstairs and eat, shall we? I want to make sure your father hasn't actually had a heart attack", he mumbled. Rose giggled a little as she followed him out of the room.

* * *

On the morning two days later, the morning of Christmas Eve, the whole family and Dean were supposed to floo to The Burrow. Rose was surprised to find that Dean had never flooed before; he had actually never even heard of it.

"Really? You've never flooed? You've never even heard of flooing?" she asked, eyeing him in disbelief. He shrugged, a little embarrassed.

"Well, it's not in any of the textbooks, and you never floo at Hogwarts, nor to and from Hogwarts. I'm muggle born, therefore I've never had the chance to do it at home. When would I have done it?"

"But then, how on earth do muggles get around? You have no floo network, no apparition, no portkeys, not even any brooms. How do you manage?" she asked, still a little bit confused. Dean shrugged again.

"We go by car. Or, if the distance is too great, we go by airplane", he explained.

"Airplane? Those metal boxes with wings muggles throw 30 000 feet up in the air? That's so stupid! It's practically suicide", Rose argued with a shiver of unease. Never. She would never ever sit down in one of those.

"It's actually really safe, but never mind that now. Since I doubt I have the possibility to go to your grandparents by airplane, I'd better learn how this works, exactly."

"Well, it's easy, really. It may be a little unpleasant, since it's your first time, but as soon as you get the hang of it, it'll be fine. You just take a little floo powder, throw it into the flames, step into the fire – it won't burn you anymore – and tell the floo where you want to go. You must do it loud and clear, or it might mishear you. Okay? Hugo, show him", Rose ordered her little brother. He rolled his eyes, but did as she asked him. He took the floo powder, threw it into the fire, stepped into it and shouted: "The Burrow!" The next moment, he was gone.

"See? Simple. You go next, and then I'll be right behind you, okay? Just remember to keep your elbows close to your body, or they could get scraped down to the bone. And try not to land on your head, no good would come from a concussion this Christmas", Rose finished with a pat on Dean's shoulder. He had grown extremely pale, and he swallowed rapidly three times in a row. Ron sniggered quietly.

"Wh… What?" he asked. Rose rolled her eyes.

"Just go! You'll be fine as long as you do as I told you", she ensured him. He gave her one last, doubtful look before he took a handful of the floo powder, threw it into the flames, stepped into the fire and shouted: "The Burrow!" Rose didn't fail to notice how close he held his arms to his body.

"I daresay you just scared him away from using the floo network ever again very effectively, dear daughter", Ron said with a grin. Rose shot him a confused look.

"What?" she asked, trying to recall what she could possibly have said to scare him off of the floo network.

"Your father only means that perhaps it wasn't the most… Intelligent thing, to talk about the risk of getting concussions or severe abrasions while flooing, the minute before your boyfriend's first time using the floo network", Hermione explained with a soft smile. Rose grinned wickedly at her mother's words.

"He's at the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team. You really think he's that easily scared? He has flooed, he is fine, and it'll be the end of any potential fears I have awakened", she assured her parents. Ron grinned again.

"What if he failed miserably and actually did arrive with a concussion and, as you mother puts it, 'severe abrasions'?" he asked. Rose slowly shook her head.

"Then I would have to seriously reconsider having a romantic relationship with him. Do you really think I could be together with a fifteen year old boy who can't even floo properly? I feel like you don't know me", Rose sighed, feigning resignation. "Well", she continued, "since you're a hopeless case, off I go. See you in a minute!"

And with those words, Rose took a handful of the floo powder, threw it and stepped into the flames.

"The Burrow!" she yelled, and felt herself get pulled away. Living room after living room flashed by, too quick to make an impression. After only a few seconds, she landed in the fireplace of The Burrow. Years and years of practice made it easy to land on her feet, but she remembered the first time she had flooed, away from her mother's safe arms. She had indeed landed on her head, and although she hadn't had a concussion, it had hurt a lot. She was eager to see how Dean had handled the landing.

She stepped out of the fireplace and was met by a rather comical scene. The Weasley clan was gathered around a little overwhelmed but still politely smiling Dean. Mr and Mrs Weasley, Bill, Charlie and Fleur, Dominique and Luis, Percy and Audrey, Molly and Lucy, George and Angelina, Fred and Roxanne, Harry and Ginny, James, Albus and Lily, Hugo, and of course, Victoire and Teddy. They had been married for almost a year now.

It took Rose almost a full second to figure out what they were already talking about. Quidditch. Rose was fairly good at the sport, but she thought of it more as a hobby than a religion. Because of that, she had never tried out for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.

Ravenclaw didn't need her, either. They had broken the Gryffindor-Slytherin trend last year, by winning the cup in an astonishingly boring final. They had played against Gryffindor, and the match had continued forever and ever. Some people had even begun to wonder if something had gone wrong with the snitch, and that it had disappeared. Both teams were exhausted, and when the Gryffindor seeker, James, finally caught sight of the little flying, golden ball, he didn't even care that Ravenclaw was in lead 230 to 60, thanks to Dean and the Ravenclaw keeper. James made an incredible dive, caught the snitch inches from the ground and managed to land safely, clearly showing his Harry Potter gene. Ravenclaw won 230 to 210, but the true hero had been James Potter, for actually ending the five hours long game.

Since Dean had made 190 of those 230 points, he was now being interrogated on his Quidditch skills and tactics. Rose saw that he was pleasant and polite, but that he didn't really give any information away. She smirked a little. Ravenclaws were no Slytherins, but they weren't tricked by a bunch of Gryffindors, that much could easily be said.

Dean turned around slightly, and caught sight of Rose standing next to the fireplace.

"Hi, Rose!" he called, and it worked of course. Rose's extended family turned around in unison, and they all smiled warmly, greeted her and forgot about Dean for a minute. Between the hugs, Rose shot him murderous looks, and he shrugged. He looked a little embarrassed, but not as if he regretted the hug attack he had exposed her to.

When they finally let her go, she walked straight up to her boyfriend. He looked a little nervous when he noticed her purposeful steps.

"Rose-", he began, clearly afraid she was angry because he had turned the attention of the Weasley monster towards her. The Weasley monster being her extended family. He didn't need to worry though, she wasn't really angry. She rather liked being the subject for everybody's attention for a few minutes, but she missed the attention of one.

"Be quiet", she interrupted him. "Come."

He followed her as she dragged him to a doorway and stopped.

"What-", he begun again, but Rose silenced him simply pointing upwards. He raised his eyes to where she pointed, and when he caught sight of the mistletoe, he finally understood.

"My father will be here any second, and he can't say anything about a kiss under the mistletoe. It would really be quite rude to… Ignore this old and storied tradition, don't you think?" she asked, smiling teasingly. He caught on her light tone.

"Storied, you say?" His voice was like honey.

"I do." Her voice was like sandpaper.

"Let's give them another story, then", he whispered, before their lips sealed. The romantic feeling shattered when George, Fred and Roxanne wolf whistled and whooped. The kiss dissolved in a fit of giggles, and when Rose had composed herself again, she turned around to scold the three particularly playful Weasleys disturbing her kiss. The face that met her wasn't theirs thought, it was her father's. He looked rather resigned.

"You aren't 'bout to stop that, are you?" he muttered, turning down his eyes.

"No, you'll just have to get used to it", she stated with a big, toothy smile.

* * *

Despite the kissing the Weasley clan had to endure watching, Dean soon was a part of the family. As soon as they had had lunch, the Weasley clan dragged him out to the Quidditch pitch. Knowing that he was a talented Quidditch chaser simply wasn't enough – they had to play with him.

Making two teams of seven each was terribly hard. They were twenty-seven, and to start the thinning they quickly decided that none of the players should be less than fifteen or more than fifty. Mr and Mrs Weasley smiled and said that it didn't bother them, but Hugo, Lily, Molly, Lucy and Lois, who were all second to fourth years, complained a little, but let it go. It was down to twenty. Percy, Audrey, Fleur and Hermione quickly backed out too. Sixteen left. Rose tried to back out, but Dean said he wouldn't play if he didn't have her on his team. After a few moments, when everybody just kept looking at each other, Teddy sighed and shared a look with Victoire.

"We can back out, too. I'm not quite sure Victoire should play anyways", he said with a smile and a hand on her belly. It took a few moments, but when everybody understood what they were talking about, a wave of congratulations washed over the young couple. After a few minutes with the attention on Victoire and her belly, the Weasley clan turned back to Quidditch. Harry and Charlie were made team captains, and they would both play as seeker. James didn't look very pleased.

"Ron as keeper!" Harry quickly said.

"Bill as keeper", Charlie answered.

"Fred and Roxanne as beaters."

"George and Dominique as beaters." Dominique was an incredibly talented beater, despite her petite, feminine frame. She was extremely accurate, and the only reason she wasn't on the Gryffindor team was because Fred and Roxanne worked incredibly good as a team. Fred was a seventh year, and Dominique and Roxanne were sixth years. Everybody expected her to replace Fred when he left.

"Ginny, Dean and Rose as chasers." Ginny had had three kids and she was still amazing. Dean, too, were extremely talented, and even though Rose preferred to play as seeker, she _was_ a pretty decent chaser. With Ron as keeper, Fred and Roxanne as beaters, and Harry as seeker, they would have a pretty smooth game ahead.

"Then my team's me, Bill, George, Dominique, Angelina, James and Albus", Charlie summarized.

"And my team is me, Ron, Fred, Roxanne, Ginny, Rose and Dean", Harry agreed.

A moment later, everybody were out grabbing a broom. The brooms were all Firebolts – no longer in production but still, after almost thirty years, the very best. Dean was about to take one, but then he gave it a second glance and jumped away as if he had almost burned himself.

"What is it?" Rose asked, a little worried.

"Are these…" he whispered, but stopped and cleared his throat, before trying again. "Are these _Firebolts_?" he asked, looking at the brooms with awe.

"Yes. So?" She rolled her eyes.

"But… But they haven't been in production since 2002! That's 20 years ago! And they're in perfect condition… How many do you have?"

"I'm lost there. Wait a moment. Hey James!" she called. Her cousin turned around on his broom, already in the air.

"What?" he shouted.

"How many Firebolts do we have?"

"Uh… Altogether? Thirty, I think. Enough for two games at the same time with a judge each." With that, he turned around and flew off, catching the quaffle when Ginny threw it to him. Rose looked at Dean again. He looked completely shocked.

"What?"

"How in bloody hell did you manage to get your hands on _thirty _Firebolts?" he asked, completely bewildered.

"I didn't think you were the swearing kind of guy", Rose pointed out, and he shook his head.

"I'm not, but extreme situations call for extreme measures. We're talking about thirty Firebolts here, Rosie. It would be disrespectful _not _to acknowledge it with a little strong language. Now, I repeat my question: How did you get your hands on thirty Firebolts?"

Rose rolled her eyes. She would just have to accept it – guys just weren't the same when it came to Quidditch. If the sport cold make Dean swear, then she had underestimated its powers.

"Well, I think that when dad, Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny heard about it back in 2001, Dad and Harry used their influence as the defeaters of Voldemort, and Ginny used her influence as a chaser in Holyhead Harpies – yes, she played in Holyhead Harpies, I know – to get first in line to the last Firebolts. Then, they paid a smaller fortune – oh, who am I kidding? A larger fortune, I think it was about 100 000 galleons. And voila. Thirty Firebolts in the Weasley family's possession." She shrugged to show that it was no big deal, but of course Dean wouldn't let it go just like that.

"100 000 galleons? Isn't that like… 500 000 pounds? Can you be rich enough to spend that kind of money on brooms?" he queried, shaking his head disbelievingly. Rose shrugged again.

"I suppose you can. The Ministry pretty much shoved money down Mom, Dad and Uncle Harry's throats after the defeat of Voldemort. Trying to repay their lost childhood or something along those lines. They didn't really want the money, but they didn't really have a choice. The Ministry transferred a sick amount to each of their vaults in Gringotts, and honestly? Next to that pile, what they paid for the Firebolts… Nothing."

When Rose silenced, Dean studied her for a moment before a smile spread across his lips.

"Well, it'll be an honour to ride one of these beauties", he said, before he mounted a broom and took off, Rose not far behind. She was happy he didn't treat her any different only because he now knew she was rich beyond measure. It really didn't seem to matter to him, and she was eternally grateful.

"Oi, Fetcher! Prepare to lose!" James yelled with a grin. Dean grinned back.

"Not likely, Potter! You think I'm going to let the Gryffindor seeker beat me?" he responded with a laugh. Take the usually silent and almost shy Dean Fetcher, put him on a broom and he'll be barely recognizable. Rose rolled her eyes. _Guys._

* * *

When the game was over, everybody were thoroughly impressed with Dean. He really was an incredibly talented chaser, and together with Ginny? Unbeatable. Since Albus was a chaser in the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Angelina had been too, and James was wickedly fast on a broom, they really had put up a match, but Dean's incredible talent, Ginny's background as a professional chaser and Rose's security with the quaffle had in the end beaten them. Fred and Roxanne's interpersonal skills made the two bludgers more often than not target Charlie's team, and when Charlie's chasers actually got their hands on the quaffle, Ron showed everybody why exactly he had been made keeper his last few school years. And with Harry as seeker, in the end Charlie's team didn't really have a chance. When Harry caught the snitch, the score was 80 – 20 to Harry's team, and with the extra 150 points, the result was 230 – 20. James walked around grumbling about uneven teams for the rest of the night.

* * *

Christmas Day morning came with brilliant sunshine, a temperature of a few degrees below zero and four inches of snow that had not been there the night before. They were all in great spirits, and as soon as the lie-abeds had been awakened the present opening could begin.

The amount of gifts was quite ridiculous. Being twenty-seven people whereof more than twenty were downright rich made for quite the pile. Still, all the gifts were as genuine as they had been when the Weasley family had been as poor as church mice.

The one who found himself with most gifts by his feet was surprisingly enough Dean. There was nearly twenty gifts there, and only four of them were from his parents. The rest were from one or another member of the Weasley clan.

Soon, the present opening began. Rose and Dean sat together, showing each other their presents as they opened them. They agreed to save each other's for last, and begun with the soft presents from Mrs Weasley. Rose had no trouble imagining what would be found in there, and she was right. One of the traditional Weasley jumpers, of course. She held it up in front of her, next to Dean's. Both jumpers were Ravenclaw blue, and the trademark letter on the front – Rose's R and Dean's D – was Ravenclaw bronze. What separated them was the decoration. Rose's jumper was covered in quills, while Dean's was covered in small brooms, which on closer inspection turned out to be Firebolts. They both immediately thanked Rose's grandmother, who said that she was happy the cramp in her hand was worth something.

After a few more presents, Dean picked up a long, rather thin package. Studying it, he asked Rose what she thought it was. She gave it one glance and smiled widely at him when she recognized the shape.

"Let me guess – it says it's from the whole Weasley clan, correct?" she asked. When he nodded in the affirmative, she smiled even wider. "I thought so. Open it and see. I bet you'll like this one. I bet you'll like this one loads more than you'll like mine", she mused. He gave her a curious look before he ripped the paper off. He opened the box inside and pulled out a broom. And as with the jumper, not just any broom. It was, as Rose had suspected, a Firebolt.

"Wh-what? A _Firebolt? _How? When? _Why? _I'm sorry, I can't accept this gift. It's too much", he mumbled, and was on his way to put the broom back inside the box when a hand stopped him. Dean looked up and met Ron's smiling face.

"Nonsense! It's not too much! As you played yesterday, you deserve it. Although, I think we can all agree that it is hard to give one of the best brooms existing to a Ravenclaw chaser, right folks?" he asked, and assent laughter was heard around the room. Dean didn't accept it quite yet; he still hesitated.

"But… I thought you had two full sets. I couldn't possibly break a full set of Firebolts", he argued. Ron shook his head.

"What judge really need a Firebolt?" he asked, grinning.

Dean seemed to think for a moment, before he pulled the broom out again. He stood and reached out his hand to Ron, who took it and shook it.

"Thank you, sir", Dean said. "Thank all of you. I can't even begin to explain how much it means to me. Not only the broom, but the way you treat me overall. I could never dream of being accepted so fast."

Mrs Weasley beamed at him, stood up and hugged him warmly.

"Oh, shush, dear boy. How could we not accept you? I think I speak for all in this room when I say that you're the politest young man we've ever met." A mumble of agreement met the Weasley matriarch's words.

"Thank you", Dean repeated, before he sat down again. Soon, the present opening resumed.

After a little while, Rose and Dean reached the point when they were to open each other's presents. Rose began. She tore away the paper, and watched the beautiful jewellery box for a moment before she opened it. Inside was a bronze necklace, with one big, blue, oval sapphire framed with a lace pattern of bronze as pendant. It was absolutely stunning, beautiful. Rose had never been much for jewellery, but this… This was beautiful.

"Do you like it?" Dean nervously asked. All Rose could do was nod.

"Do you want me to help you put it on?" he continued, still unsure. Rose nodded again. When he had helped her to put the wonderful necklace on, she finally found her voice.

"Thank you. Thank you so very much, I love it. But Dean… It must have cost a fortune", Rose mumbled. Dean shook his head.

"No worries, it has been in my family for generations. At least _I_ didn't pay anything for it", he explained with a smile. Rose still felt hesitant, though.

"In your family for generations? Are you quite sure you want to give it to me, then?" she asked. He shrugged.

"I know we have only been dating for a few months, and I don't want to sound presumptuous, but I think we'll last. I love you. You love me. You're the nicest, most intelligent and most attractive witch I've ever met, and you keep saying things like that to me too. I can't see why we wouldn't last", he concluded with a smile and a shrug. Rose smiled back.

"You're right. We'll definitely last", she mumbled. She glanced at the present lying in front of him, feeling that next to the necklace, the book set about potions waiting in there was nothing. Nevertheless, she knew he would love it and be just as grateful for the expensive books as she was for the stunningly beautiful necklace.

She looked at him when he opened the present, a small smile gracing her lips. She knew in that moment that she loved him, with all her heart. He really was her Prince Charming.

* * *

**Okay, for starters, I'm terribly sorry for the sickening amount of romantic drivel and drama in this chapter. To me, it's just… Meh. But it had to be there. It's the only way to show you guys what a nauseatingly perfect relationship they have. Even if it makes me want to puke.**

**So, now I'll be on my way to puke a little over the cheesiness of this chapter and cry a little over the American Harry Potter books I have been given. The only light in the horizon would be Boxing Day; my birthday. Except for the British version of the Harry Potter books, what could make for a better Christmas ****_and_**** Birthday present than a review? Silent readers, you too! Make me happy again!**

**See you around for part two of this chapter!**

**Hannoie**


	9. Chapter 8, Scorpius's POV

**Here we go; now I'll let you know how Scorpius celebrated his Christmas! And btw, the issue of the American Harry Potter books is now solved. My sister will buy the box, and then my parents will order the right books! I'm so happy right now :D**

**Very well, on we go with the story!**

* * *

**Scorpius's POV**

* * *

If Scorpius had thought for even a moment that the thing between Rose and Fetcher wouldn't last, his hopes were shattered the next Saturday, when Rose practically came jumping to the cottage, dancing around and telling him that she and _Dean_ now were girlfriend and boyfriend.

Well, of course not _hopes_. He hadn't hoped for them _not _to get together, because he wanted Rose to be happy. But Scorpius was sure that from now on he would hear no end of all Fetcher's feats and abilities, and he was right of course. It was Fetcher here, and Fetcher there. Fetcher did this, Fetcher said that. Fetcher poops rainbows and Fetcher coughs sunshine, isn't he absolutely perfect?

Scorpius was quickly beginning to hate the guy. What was he? Who was that perfect? That really was the worst part – it wasn't only Rose's feelings speaking. It was as if the guy had no fault. He wasn't ugly. He wasn't stupid. Whatever Scorpius tried to convince Rose – he wasn't overly naïve. He didn't even seem to be able to feel jealousy. And whenever he showed one of those traits in front of Rose, she completely melted. Oh, of course Fetcher didn't do it in a showy way. Because, of course, he wasn't a show-off. Yes, Scorpius was quickly beginning to hate him. The Slytherin part of him wanted to humiliate Fetcher, to hurt him. But the part of him that was simply Rose's friend stopped him. He knew that if he did something to Fetcher, Rose would get hurt in the process. And if it was handled clumsily, perhaps she would even end their friendship. No, the pain that the loss of her friendship would cause was too great in comparison to the moment of satisfaction a humiliated Fetcher would give. It wasn't worth it.

That, though, did _not _mean that Scorpius was inclined to listen day in day out about Fetcher's feats. So when Rose brought up the subject being her boyfriend, Scorpius gave in to the sulky mood that seemed to come all too easy whenever Fetcher was mentioned, hoping she would take the hint.

To Scorpius's surprise, she did. Rose and Fetcher's relationship was still sweet enough to make him sick, almost physically _sick, _but at least he didn't have to hear about it every minute of every night anymore. Something still didn't seem quite right, though. Whenever he saw Rose and Fetcher together, it hurt. Somewhere in his chest. Somewhere suspiciously close to his heart. He didn't know what it was, and he could only hope he didn't have some trouble with his heart. Malfoys didn't have heart diseases. Malfoys had perfect health. No, it would surely disappear. Perhaps it was only a cold, stuck in a weird place. Soon, it would be Christmas, and he could go home and rest, and return to Hogwarts fully recovered. The pain would disappear, whatever it was. Of course it would.

* * *

The day to return home had come, and Scorpius had rarely ever felt so happy to leave the school. Something told him that if he could only make it home, the weird, misplaced pain in his heart would disappear, hopefully not to return.

He spent the train ride home in a compartment with Mark and Melina. Mark was his usual self; quiet, polite, simply pleasant company. Melina, on the other hand, seemed even more clingy than usual. Her hand never seemed to leave his person, she pecked him on the cheek constantly and if he turned his head a fraction in her direction, it was his mouth that got attacked instead. And she never shut up. How could one person have so much to say and not say anything at all at the same time? It shouldn't be possible.

_Rose only talks about things that matter – except when she's talking about Fetcher, that is._

Scorpius shook his head a little. Where did that thought come from?

As they train ride continued, he felt himself grow more and more disgusted with Mel. The smell of her perfume and the taste of her lip gloss made him feel sick. The sound of her voice was piercing his ears. The feeling of those hands, those hands that never stopped touching him… He felt almost claustrophobic.

Mel wasn't really his girlfriend. Oh, everybody expected them to become a couple, everybody knew there was something going on between them. He had taken her on a couple of Hogsmeade dates, and everybody simply waited for him to pop the question.

He just couldn't do it, though. He knew that he should – their parents had been pushing them together ever since Mel had learned how to talk – but whatever he felt for the one year younger witch next to him, it wasn't love. It was barely even attraction anymore. He could perhaps call her friend, but even that wasn't exactly right, as he would never really spend time with the brainless, ridiculously vain, self-centred girl if it wasn't for the snogs. And now he didn't want the snogs anymore.

He would have to end this… Whatever it was.

"Hey Mel", he said, interrupting whatever it was she was saying. They were almost at King's Cross Station, Scorpius noticed. _Good, _he thought.

"Yes, Scorp?" she asked, and he shuddered. _Scorp. _It sounded too much like 'corpse' for his liking. He much preferred Scor, Rose's nickname for him. Scorpius decided to break up with Mel in a terribly mean way; a way that would disincline her from ever using that horrible nickname ever again.

"Um, Mel… You know we've had this… Thing… Going on for a while now, right?" he asked.

"Yes", she agreed and eagerly leaned forward, her eyes shining.

"Well, I figured it wouldn't be nice to you to continue like this. I don't want to, either. It wouldn't be right of me to continue this… Romantic relationship with you, as anything but your boyfriend. Don't you agree?" he asked, smiling coolly. She misunderstood, of course, taking his words for their exact opposite, as well as his smile.

"Oh, yes! Oh, Scorp, I _completely _agree. You are totally right!" she shrieked, beyond happiness.

"I'm glad you feel that way."

King's Cross Station was now within sight.

"Since I don't want to be your boyfriend, we can't continue this."

There was platform 9¾.

"We're not together, so I can't properly break up with you, but you may consider any romantic bonds between us broken."

The train slowed down.

"What?" she screamed.

The train stopped.

"Whatever this was, it's over now. Good day, Miss Rosier", Scorpius said with fake politeness, before he took his leave with Mark close behind.

"Good work, mate. She'll have Christmas to cool down now. Good move", Mark mumbled.

"Thank you."

The doors opened.

* * *

His parents had picked him up at King's Cross Station two days ago, and he was happy to be at home. Malfoy Manor was eerily quiet and empty, but Scorpius was used to it. Growing up with the silence, it didn't scare him anymore. Nor did the darkness, nor the loneliness. And since the ache in his heart was finally gone, that couldn't scare him either. Because it was gone. Wasn't it?

Now, it was the 24th, tomorrow was Christmas, and he repeatedly told himself that he was happy. That he didn't miss Rose. That he wouldn't have given his left arm to hear her voice – even if she had been bragging about her boyfriend, Fetcher. Dean sodding Fetcher.

Of course not. Because the ache in his heart – heartache? Surely not – was gone, and he didn't miss Rose. She only mattered to him Friday nights anyway.

A moment later, he realised that it _was _indeed Friday night.

_Friday nights, during term, _he silently corrected himself.

* * *

Soon, Christmas Day morning came. When everybody, that being Lucius, Narcissa, Draco, Astoria and Scorpius, was awake, they began opening the presents.

It was quite a quiet affair. One simply opened the present, silently thanked the giver and continued to the next one. The atmosphere wasn't cold, not really, but none of the attendants were of the talkative kind.

None of the Christmas presents made any greater impression on Scorpius. They were nice, of course, but he didn't care very much. He missed that part of being young – the eternal excitement of gifts.

Soon, the presents were opened and the wrapping paper evanscoed. Scorpius took his presents to his room, before he went back down to have breakfast.

* * *

A few hours later, it was time for Christmas Dinner. Scorpius was starving – Turkey, ham, roast potatoes, an array of mince pies, puddings, cakes and other supplies – he took a bit of everything. He had more than one reason, though. He knew that the silence during dinner could be rather oppressive, and that it eased a little if there was a good reason not to talk. A mouthful of food was a good reason, and therefore you should always have your mouth full. It was quite simple, really.

Of course, Scorpius's father wouldn't let the dinner pass in companionable – oppressive – silence, he had to make conversation.

And, of course, he had to make conversation with Scorpius.

"Now, Scorpius, we've heard rumours about you and a certain Miss Rosier. Is this true? Your mother and I would be very pleased – she is a good girl, and she comes from a very good family", he father began, doing something with his face that probably was supposed to be a polite, even friendly, smile. Scorpius forced himself to smile back.

"It _was _something going on between us. I ended it three days ago, though", he mumbled, reaching for a piece of fruit cake.

"Why?" his father asked, before Scorpius had the chance to take a bite of the cake. He sighed.

"Because, father, I wasn't attracted to her anymore. She has no personality whatsoever, no brains, and all she ever cares about is her looks. And my looks, of course", Scorpius snapped. He didn't want to sound angry, but the very thought of Melina's lips locked with his made waves of disgust surge through his body. Never again.

An uncomfortable silence settled in the room, until Lucius decided to speak.

"Speaking of brains, how is school for my grandson? I do hope you beat Granger's daughter in classes, seeing as you father didn't manage to beat Granger herself", Lucius drawled with a pointed look in Draco's direction. Scorpius shrugged, preparing himself. This was it; now he would have to speak ill of Rose Weasley for a while. He was rather used to it, as he had to do it every time he went home.

"That filthy half-blood has too much brains for her own good, sir. We're mostly getting equal marks at the moment; O's all of it. I think perhaps she's cheating; I simply don't see how she is able to keep those marks and at the same time snog her boyfriend senseless all the time, at least all the time I see her. Or perhaps the professors just favours her because her parents are two thirds of the _Golden Trio", _Scorpius mused in a mocking voice. Then he went back to the kissing issue. "It's really quite disturbing to watch. Who wants to see red-headed Weasley sucking tongue with her idiot boyfriend all day long? It's disgusting, that's what it is. She should keep it to the common room, where the rest of us at least won't have to watch it. And I still don't see what Fetcher sees in her. I mean, he's a mu- muggle-born, but even he could do better than Weasley. Or perhaps he's out for her fame and money. Idiot", Scorpius ranted, careful to keep a haughty, arrogant face in place throughout his statement. He gave his parents and grandparents a quick survey, to see how his words were received. His father and grandfather looked equally pleased with his words. His mother looked rather displeased – her lips pinched together into a thin line – but it was Scorpius's grandmother, Narcissa, who caught his eye. She looked as if she was trying to suppress a smile, mirth dancing in her eyes.

"Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy", she said, "if I didn't know you better, I'd say you were jealous."

Scorpius had already begun to shake his head, when her words reached his brain.

_Jealous._

The ache in his heart.

_Jealous._

The hate for Fetcher.

_Jealous._

A surge of nausea washed over him.

_Jealous._

"I… I don't feel very well. I think I might be sick."

_Jealous._

He rose from the table, making his way to the door.

_Jealous._

"Not very strange. You made him think about Weasley snogging. And on full stomach, too", Draco said, probably to Lucius.

_Jealous._

Scorpius noticed Lucius's dry laughter was the only thing disturbing the silence. Astoria and Narcissa kept quiet.

_Jealous._

The door closed behind him, and he ran to his private bathroom.

_Jealous._

He barely made it to the toilet before he vomited, half-digested food touching his taste buds on its way out.

_Jealous._

Why was he jealous? There was only one reasonable explanation, and it scared the hell out of him.

Scorpius Malfoy was in love with Rose Weasley.

* * *

**And this is why I will, after this story, never again write double POV. See this? Scorpius's POV actually covers a few hours more than Rose's, but if you compare the length you'll notice a little difference. Just a small one. A small difference of almost 7000 words. And it bugs me a lot.**

**Very well. I suppose I have myself to blame – I chose to write it like this.**

**And now, ladies and gentlemen, Scorpius has realised he's in love with Rose. One out of two. Let's make it two out of two, shall we?**

**See you around for the next chapter!**

**Hannoie**

**P.S. If you think I seem somewhat discontinuous, it's because I haven't slept for the last 20 hours. I hope it hasn't affected the story. D.S.**


	10. Chapter 9

**Okay, I'm so sorry for this delay. I thought I would have an opportunity to update more often during Christmas, but it turned out to be quite the opposite. There was ALWAYS something going on, besides the cold I had. So… It took some time, but now it's finally here. And now, when school's back on, I know when I have time to write, so hopefully I will be able to continue my weekly updates from now on. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!**

**Remember to R&R!**

* * *

**Rose's POV**

* * *

The rest of the Christmas holiday passed rather uneventfully. The Weasley clan was as unruly as ever, but since they all liked Dean, their antics were mostly harmless. The worst Dean had to put up with was one afternoon, when he was stupid enough to accept a sweet from George. Rose watched the exchange from a distance, but she was too far away to do anything before Dean had eaten the sweet. She reached them just as he swallowed.

"Dean, honey, you should _not _have eaten that. It's an unwritten rule around here. Never, _ever, _accept anything from George, Fred or Roxanne. Especially not George. Next to him, Fred and Roxy are amateurs. This man here has almost 44 years' experience when it comes to mischief. Eating something he gives you is to willingly walk into the trap. Now, you couldn't know, but I swear that comes from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. You'll regret it soon enough", she told him. He looked quite taken aback, and swallowed with some difficulty.

"What will happen to me?" he asked, his eyes wandering between Rose and George, his face pale with worry. Rose rolled her eyes a little.

"Nothing dangerous, I assure you. Something harmless but annoying that will wear off in a few hours. Won't it, George?" she asked pointedly. He grinned and shrugged.

"And why do you even assume that it was anything special about that sweet? Why couldn't I just give a sweet to my future nephew-in-law?" he retorted.

"One: I assume it was something in that sweet because of that", Rose began, jerking her head in the direction of Dean, whose hair was now beginning to change, along with his eyes. His hair was Ravenclaw blue with Ravenclaw bronze highlights. One of his eyes changed only a little – from deep blue to one shade deeper, the other one turned completely bronze.

"Two", Rose continued, "For goodness sake, we're not engaged. We're fifteen!" she cried.

"Sixteen", Dean corrected her.

"What?" Rose asked.

"Sixteen. I'm already sixteen", he explained. "And could you please tell me what exactly is going on? I don't feel different, and the parts of me that I can see don't look different, either."

"Oh, your hair and eyes just mirror your… House spirit, so to speak. You'll understand when you see yourself in a mirror the next time. Now, when is your birthday?"

"Second of September. I'm the oldest of our year", he explained with a shrug.

"Phew. That means I didn't miss it while we were dating", Rose said with a relieved smile.

"No. When is your birthday, by the way?" he asked.

"May twenty-first. So there's still a long time to go…"

"Well, when we get there, I'll make sure we celebrate it properly", he promised. Rose smiled and leaned in for a kiss. She noticed how good-looking he was. Pulling off blue hair wasn't an easy feat. She didn't even think Scorpius could do that.

_Why do I think about Scorpius when I'm about to kiss Dean? _she wondered for a second, before she banished her secret friend from her mind. _I'll see him next Friday anyways._

* * *

Now, Rose was back at school, and it was finally Friday night. She put on her boots, her cap, her cloak, her gloves and her scarf, not bothering to keep quiet. Lucy was awake, and peered out between the curtains surrounding her bed.

"Good luck, Rosie. Say hi to Scorpius from me", she said with a quick smile before she went back to bed.

"Will do", Rose responded before she sneaked out of their dorm, down to the empty common room and out of Ravenclaw Tower. She walked through the silent corridors of the castle, not really paying attention to her surroundings. Suddenly, she turned around the corner and bumped right into… Headmistress Thwaites.

"Headmistress!" Rose chirped. "I'm so, so sorry. Are you okay?" she asked.

"Miss Weasley! I'm fine, thank you, but why, pray tell, are you running around the castle by midnight?"

Rose gritted her teeth. It was just like the Headmistress to ask about what other professors would let pass, since she was a trusted prefect.

"I was…" Rose mumbled, trying to come up with a credible lie.

"With a full winter attire, too. I'm getting quite curious, Miss Weasley. Tell me, what are you going to do outside, as you couldn't do before curfew?" the Headmistress asked, a glimmer of mirth in her blue eyes.

"I…" She decided to tell the truth, or at least parts of the truth. "I'm going to meat somebody."

"A boy?" the Headmistress continued. When Rose nodded in the affirmative, she raised her brows in surprise.

"Now, then, where is the young man? If I am not mistaken, he is Ravenclaw just as you are."

Rose hesitated.

"I'm not meeting… Dean", she admitted. Again, the Headmistress acted surprised, even though Rose began to think that it was precisely that; an act.

"Now, Miss Weasley, you are an intelligent girl. You must know it is very immoral of you to date two young men at the same time", the Headmistress teased. Teased! This situation was quickly becoming _very _awkward.

"I'm not dating the guy I'm about to meet. We're just friends", she defended herself, telling the truth. The Headmistress watched Rose for a moment, amusement evident in her face.

"Very well, Miss Weasley. Off you go. I won't deduct any points, as long as you're kind enough to tell Mr Malfoy hello from me. His mother is a good friend of mine, after all. Oh, and Miss Weasley? Try to stay out of trouble. The Forbidden Forest can be quite dangerous at night", she said with an easy smile.

"Wha-", Rose began, but the Headmistress was gone. Slightly dizzy, she continued. How could the Headmistress know? Why didn't it bother her? The Headmistress knew that two of her students visitedThe Forbidden Forest at night, regularly, and she didn't put an end to it? Rose shook her head. This had to be discussed with Scorpius, now.

* * *

When she entered the cottage, it was empty. She knew Scorpius would be there soon, though, and she sat down and picked up the book she had left on her nightstand before Christmas. Less than ten minutes later, Scorpius Malfoy entered the cottage. He looked paler than usual; considering how pale he usually was, he was almost transparent now.

"Scor!" Rose exclaimed, jumped up from the bed and threw herself around his neck, much like she had when they had reunited after the summer holidays.

"Hi, Rosie!" Scorpius laughed, before he pulled her away a bit. His face had a strange expression, almost as if he was in pain. Before she had time to ask, though, he spoke again.

"How was your Christmas, Rosie?" he asked, smiling, although something in his eyes still wasn't quite right.

"Wonderful. My family was a royal pain, but they liked Dean, so everything worked out in the end. I was almost afraid the meeting with my extended family would make him see sense and break up with me, but I think he liked them too. We're still going strong, and look! He gave me this", she babbled, now showing Scorpius the necklace. "I know it's _really _too fancy for daily use, but I have charmed it with an Unbreakable Charm. I just can't go without it. It's way too beautiful to be in some box somewhere, don't you agree?"

"Yes… Let me see", he said, leaning closer to examine the necklace. "This is a huge, beautifully cut sapphire. Hue, saturation, tone… Amazing. The clarity is as good as perfect; VVS, I believe. Transparent, too, I'd say, although it's a bit hard to tell with the bronze behind. The bronze is of excellent quality, by the way, a beautiful handiwork. I'd say it's about three hundred years old. Where the hell did he get this beauty? I had no idea the guy was rich. Even I couldn't have bought a girlfriend something like this, especially not after only four months of dating", Scorpius mumbled distractedly. Rose shook her head.

"He didn't buy it; it's a family heirloom. He said it's been in his family for ages", she explained. Somehow, Scorpius seemed even more taken aback than before.

"An heirloom? You exchange heirlooms now? After four months?" he asked, completely bewildered. Another feeling seemed to lurk behind the bewilderment, but Rose couldn't quite put a name on it.

"Well, we're serious. If you haven't figured it out yet, he's perfect. But enough of me and Dean. Where did you learn so much about jewellery? And how was your Christmas?" she inquired. Scorpius shrugged, a faint blush colouring his cheeks.

"That has more to do with my upbringing than anything else. We Malfoys are supposed to be so fancy, and having unnecessary knowledge about fancy stuff is a part of that. About my Christmas; it was okay, I guess. We celebrated with Lucius and Narcissa. Nothing special for Christmas presents", he summarized with a shrug. Rose nodded.

"Well, that leaves me with only two questions left; How was your birthday, and why do you look like you've seen a… Why do you look like a ghost?" she asked, and earned a weak smile.

"Well, my birthday was alright. My parents gave me, among other things, a new broom. And the ghost part… Well, to be honest, I ran into Headmistress Thwaites on my way here", he admitted. Rose's eyes widened in astonishment.

"Me too! And she hinted, not in a very subtle way, that she knew about this. She asked me what I was doing out running the corridors at night, and when I realised I wouldn't get away with a lie, I said I was going to meet somebody. I swear, the only things I told her was that it was a boy and that it wasn't Dean. And then she asked me to tell you hello from her. Not just the random guy I was meeting, but you. 'Mr Malfoy'. And she told me to be careful, because The Forbidden Forest at night could be dangerous. And then she was gone. Just gone, like nothing had happened", Rose explained.

"Yes, that's pretty much what happened to me, too. You don't think she followed us out here?" he asked. Rose gasped, but after a moment of consideration, she shook her head.

"No. I don't see any reason. Obviously she already knows about this, which means she has either followed us before or is a Legilimens. Since non-verbal and wandless legilimency is five times as hard as occlumency, and occlumency is hard enough to make Harry Potter fail, I would think it is the former. I do wonder when, though", she mused. Scorpius shrugged and made a little grimace.

"Does it matter?" he asked. "She knows. We can't do a thing about it, and obviously she doesn't mind. Although I do wonder why she doesn't mind… Ugh, this doesn't make sense!" he complained. Rose nodded in agreement.

"Well, whatever her motives are, we will probably not figure them out tonight. We'd better go to bed."

"…I guess you're right."

* * *

When Rose – who had won the bathroom race – descended the stairs, Scorpius looked up and, upon seeing her in her nightdress, the pained expression from earlier reappeared. Rose gave him a puzzled look.

"What's wrong?" she asked, a little worried. Was he sick somehow?

"Ah… You know… You're my best friend. You're not a girl in my mind, you're my friend. But then you dress in _that, _and… You look like a girl. It clashes in my mind, somehow." He shrugged, looking uncomfortable. Rose eyes grew wide. Really? Then she giggled.

"I can't be your friend _and _a girl?" she asked, still sniggering.

"Of course you can! It's just… You didn't have _tits _before fifth year…"

If Rose had laughed before, she right out roared with laughter now.

"Oh… Oh my… _Oh my goodness. _Really, Scor? So is that what you're trying to say? You think I look good? Is that your problem?" Rose asked, gasping for air.

"Of course not, Weasley", he sneered, but without any real malice. "They're too pointy for my taste anyways."

"They..?" Rose began, but then realization hit her. "_Oh!_" she gasped, before breaking down into laughter again, ignoring Scorpius's disapproving glares.

* * *

"You look like your about to burst; fill me in."

Lucy's words when Rose returned the next morning, unusually early, made Rose smile a weak smile. Lucy knew her a little bit too well sometimes.

"Headmistress Thwaites somehow seems to know everything. She confronted both me and Scorpius separately when we were on our way to the cottage last night", Rose admitted. Lucy's eyes grew as big as saucers, and she gasped in shock.

"No! Oh my god… How many points did you lose? How much detention? Oh please god, please tell me you didn't get expelled. Please. And how the heck did you manage to get out there and spend the night away when you both got caught? Oh no. Please don't tell me you've been expelled and you've been gone all night because the professors wanted to keep tab on you, so you wouldn't get into more trouble. And oh my god, now you're only here to pack your stuff, right? Rose! How could you do this? Oh, I knew it was a bad idea when it began, but then again, how could you refrain? This isn't fair! I'll go talk to her. Maybe I can make her change her mind…"

"Lucy!" Rose shrieked, laughing.

"What?" Lucy yelled, still panicking. Rose laughed even more.

"I'm not expelled, I did not lose any points, I do not have any detention and I spent my Friday night just as I spend all my Friday nights; in the cottage. Calm down."

The panic left Lucy's eyes, and left was only confusion and shock.

"But… But… How? You… You said you and Scorpius both ran into the Headmistress. How could you not face any consequences?" she asked, her eyes still wide.

"You tell me. She asked me to say hello to Scorpius, and to be careful in the forest. And then she left", Rose summarized with a shrug. Lucy blinked a few times.

"Really? That's it? But why? She wouldn't let any other students get away with that, why you two? I mean, it makes sense not to expel you. Your families would give this school hell personified if you got expelled. But why not a good amount of point loss, and a few months' worth of detention with Filch? Maybe even a warning to your parents. That was what I thought they would give you would they ever find out. But nothing? It just doesn't add out", Lucy argued. Rose sighed, defeated.

"I simply don't know. The only thing I can think of is that she wins something out of my and Scorpius's visits to the forest. What, I have no idea. We'll have to wait and see." After a moment of silence, Rose giggled. "Whoops, I rhymed there. Completely unintentional, promise."

"Hm?" Lucy wondered.

"Idea, see. I rhymed." And with those words, both girls erupted in a much needed fit of giggles, and the tension dissolved. What the Headmistress needed of Scorpius and Rose was a question that, for the moment, could wait.

* * *

**Scorpius's POV**

* * *

Nine days later, it was the third of January; Scorpius's birthday. The only thing better with his birthday next to his Christmas, was that he didn't have to see his grandparents. Instead, a bunch of his fellow Slytherins were invited over. Scorpius was happy to see Mark again, but barely greeted Tristan and Gregory. Oliver and Jack, the last two of Scorpius's roommates from Hogwarts, earned a fleeting smile and a proper greeting. Scorpius didn't know them all too well, but they were okay. Fairly intelligent, and fairly nice. They were best friends, but didn't really interact so much with the others in their year.

A few more guys were invited from fourth and sixth year, too, and then there was the girls. When Scorpius saw they were there, he mentally kicked himself for not checking the guest list before Okaying it. The fact that there were girls there in the first place annoyed him, because they were all fawning over him, but the reason he knew they were invited annoyed him even more. He knew his parents probably didn't give a damn about all the sixth year girls, all the fifth year girls and all the fourth year girls but one. They had invited all the girls from three different years only to make him get back together with one of them. And if that didn't work, his parents would surely be happy to match him with any of the other Slytherin girls, who would all happily agree to be his girlfriend.

_Too bad I don't want to be their boyfriend, then, _he thought with a little smirk.

"Scoooorp!" a shrill voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts. He looked up and stifled a sigh when he saw Melina Rosier make her way through the crowd, a big smile plastered on her lips.

_Really? _he asked himself. _She didn't get enough last time?_

"What are you doing here?" he asked her angrily. She sighed dramatically.

"Oh Scorp, I feel we left off in a very confusing way last time. But it's okay. I understand if you aren't ready to be my boyfriend yet; we'll take it slow. No pressure. We have our entire lives in front of us, we don't have to be in a committed relationship quite yet." And with those words, before Scorpius had any time to break her dreams and heart again, she stood on tiptoe and kissed him.

Their lips had barely connected before Scorpius tore himself from her grip and promptly vomited right there in the middle of the room. Everybody fell silent, and Scorpius realised that if he didn't say something – _fast – _he would be laughed at.

"You kiss so bad it makes me vomit. See why I don't want to have anything to do with you anymore? I will say again what I said on the train; there is nothing between us anymore. I'm not somebody you can snog. I'm not your boyfriend. I'm not even you friend. And I'm _certainly _not somebody you may call Scorp. It's Malfoy to you from now on. Deal with it. And get out, before you ruin this party more than you have already."

People began to laugh, but at her. Good. She looked around, searching for a friendly face, but found nothing. Her face crumpled up in tears, as she turned around and ran out of there.

_It was Rose or Rosier. For me, Rose is quite enough._

* * *

It was the first Friday night of term. Melina had been ignoring him all week, but he didn't care. If he didn't have to say another word to her for the rest of his life, they would have spoken too much.

The vomit thing, which he had for a few, humiliating moments thought was because of his kiss with Melinda, proved to be because of the food him and his family had eaten the day before. His mother had, only a minute after the incident, entered the room about to tell him that both she and Draco had vomited, and to ask whether he felt bad or not. The words had stuck in her throat when she smelt the vomit and saw the mess in the middle of the room.

"Well, I take it you _have _gotten the food poisoning I and your father have gotten", she had said with a small, amused smile before she had scourgified the foul mess on the floor.

"Food poisoning?" Scorpius had asked with a weak voice. Astoria had nodded in the affirmative.

"Yes. Just drink this potion – we got it from St Mungo's – and you'll be just fine, and then the party can continue."

Scorpius had drunk the potion, and then the party had continued. Without Melina, though. It had been an improvement, but since the other girls still had been fawning over him – _despite _the vomit accident – the party hadn't been as good as it could have been.

Now, Scorpius was on his way to the cottage. It was winter outside, and since he had no intentions of freezing to death, he was dressed in a full winter attire. He didn't think he would meet a professor – most of them were happy to be in their quarters after midnight – and if he did, they would probably not ask. One of the perks of being a well-behaved top student prefect was that teachers trusted you. The prefect curfew was midnight, but few professors punished a prefect they met ten past. Scorpius also knew that the majority of the professors wouldn't ask about his winter attire would they meet him. He felt confident he wouldn't get into any trouble.

Of course, it wasn't the majority of the professors he happened to run into on his way out of the dungeons. It was Professor Thwaites, the Headmistress.

"Wha-", Scorpius began, but the Headmistress interrupted him.

"Why Mr Malfoy, what a pleasant surprise after midnight!" she exclaimed, a smile gracing her lips. Scorpius gave her a suspicious look.

"Yes. But you must excuse me, I'm in a little of a hurry", he mumbled, trying to make his way out of there. She wouldn't have it, it seemed.

"Surely you can spare a few minutes to your Headmistress, can you not?" she asked with a twinkle in her eyes. Scorpius stiffly nodded.

"Of course, Professor", he answered, praying that she wouldn't notice how he was dressed. It was rather dark down in the dungeons, after all…

"Now, how are you dressed? Did I not know better, I'd say you were on your way out? But what could you possibly want outside after midnight?" she asked, eyeing him curiously. He realised a straight lie would take him nowhere, so he decided on telling her part of the truth.

"Perhaps I'm meeting someone", he said airily. At this, Thwaites raised a brow.

"Indeed? Not a girl, is it?"

"…Yes", he admitted after a moment, faking embarrassment. She could think whatever she wanted, as long as she didn't know the truth.

"Now, Mr Malfoy, I must tell you it isn't nice playing with Miss Rosier like this. You can't break up with her and then come back, break up and come back. You'd better make up your mind on the subject. And pray tell, where is the young lady? I am certain you are both of the great house of Salazar Slytherin, are you not?" she asked. Scorpius squirmed under her piercing gaze.

"I _have _made up my mind, Headmistress. I have no longer anything to do with Rosier", he defended himself.

"That's true. Yet… The girl you're about to meet is a love interest, if I'm not mistaken."

Her words unsettled Scorpius greatly.

"How… What… Why…" he spluttered, before he resigned. "Yes."

"Very well", Professor Thwaites said and clapped her hands together. "Do say hello to Miss Weasley from me, and I will repay the favour by not deducting any points for sneaking into the Forbidden Forest. And be careful, Mr Malfoy. It's a dangerous place at night, as I'm sure you're well aware."

And the next second, she was gone.

* * *

Scorpius entered the cottage, still in shock from his meeting with the Headmistress. He still had to process it for a little while longer before he was ready to talk to Rose about it.

The sight of the redheaded girl reading a book in her bed met him as he stepped inside, and as soon as the door closed, her head snapped up from her book and a wave of happiness washed over her face at the sight of him. That happiness affected him deeply, and released him from some of the shock.

"Scor!" she squealed, jumped up and attacked his neck with her arms.

"Hi, Rosie!" Scorpius answered with a laugh, but even in his ears it sounded forced. Her proximity was hard to endure. It was almost a physical pain, to _not _kiss her. Something told him she wouldn't react in a good way if he did, though, so he sustained.

When she saw his expression, she looked as if she was about to ask him about it, but he interrupted her before she had the time.

"How was your Christmas, Rosie?" he asked, effectively distracting her. Her entire face immediately lit up, and Scorpius regretted asking almost immediately.

"Wonderful. My family was a royal pain, but they liked Dean, so everything worked out in the end. I was almost afraid the meeting with my extended family would make him see sense and break up with me, but I think he liked them too. We're still going strong, and look! He gave me this", she babbled, now showing him a necklace earlier hidden under her robes. Scorpius only needed one look to tell that it was an absolute masterpiece, and that it was far too nice to walk around with as she did. She pointed this out herself, though, before he had a chance to do so. "I know it's _really _too fancy for daily use, but I have charmed it with an Unbreakable Charm. I just can't go without it. It's way too beautiful to be in some box somewhere, don't you agree?" she asked, her eyes shining.

"Yes… Let me see", he agreed silently, not really listening. The necklace was far more interesting than her words at the moment. All his knowledge about jewellery was directed at the piece in front of him. "This is a huge, beautifully cut sapphire. Hue, saturation, tone… Amazing. The clarity is as good as perfect; VVS, I believe. Transparent, too, I'd say, although it's a bit hard to tell with the bronze behind. The bronze is of excellent quality, by the way, a beautiful handiwork. I'd say it's about three hundred years old. Where the hell did he get this beauty? I had no idea the guy was rich. Even I couldn't have bought a girlfriend something like this, especially not after only four months of dating", he mumbled, the ugly truth hitting him with force. As if the guy hadn't been perfect before, he could also afford pieces of jewellery fancy enough to grace a princess. Scorpius truly didn't stand a chance.

"He didn't buy it; it's a family heirloom. He said it's been in his family for ages", Rose explained with a soothing smile, as if that piece of knowledge somehow would make it better. They were serious enough to after four months exchange heirlooms?

When he shared that thought, a streak of irritation glimpsed in her eyes.

"Well, we're serious. If you haven't figured it out yet, he's perfect", she snapped, before she calmed down. "But enough of me and Dean. Where did you learn so much about jewellery? And how was your Christmas?" she asked, a surprised and teasing smile showing on her face. Scorpius felt a little embarrassed – never before had he told anybody at school how much he knew about jewellery. He shrugged before he tried to explain.

"That has more to do with my upbringing than anything else. We Malfoys are supposed to be so fancy, and having unnecessary knowledge about fancy stuff is a part of that. About my Christmas; it was okay, I guess. We celebrated with Lucius and Narcissa. Nothing special for Christmas presents", he summarized and shrugged again, earning a quick nod and another smile.

"Well, that leaves me with only two questions left; How was your birthday, and why do you look like you've seen a… Why do you look like a ghost?" she inquired, and Scorpius couldn't help but smile. She had a way to put her words, that girl.

"Well, my birthday was alright. My parents gave me, among other things, a new broom. And the ghost part… Well, to be honest, I ran into Headmistress Thwaites on my way here", he admitted. Rose looked surprised and alarmed, but not as much as he would have expected. That soon got its explanation.

"Me too! And she hinted, not very subtle, that she knew about this. She asked me what I was doing out running the corridors at night, and when I realised I wouldn't get away with a lie, I said I was going to meet somebody. I swear, the only things I told her was that it was a boy and that it wasn't Dean. And then she asked me to tell you hello from her. Not just the random guy I was meeting, but you. 'Mr Malfoy'. And she told me to be careful, because The Forbidden Forest at night could be dangerous. And then she was gone. Just gone, like nothing had happened", Rose explained, a distressed look to her face. Scorpius nodded.

"Yes, that's pretty much what happened to me, too. You don't think she followed us out here?" he asked. Rose gasped, but then she quickly shook her head, to Scorpius's relief.

"No. I don't see any reason. Obviously she already knows about this, which means she has either followed us before or is a Legilimens. Since non-verbal and wandless legilimency is five times as hard as occlumency, and occlumency is hard enough to make Harry Potter fail, I would think it is the former. I do wonder when, though", she mused. Scorpius, who realised how irrelevant that was, shrugged.

"Does it matter?" he asked her, rhetorically. "She knows. We can't do a thing about it, and obviously she doesn't mind. Although I do wonder why she doesn't mind… Ugh, this doesn't make sense!" he complained, and even though he knew he sounded whiny, he earned a nod in agreement.

"Well, whatever her motives are, we will probably not figure them out tonight. We'd better go to bed", Rose sighed, and after a moment, Scorpius let her have her way.

"…I guess you're right."

* * *

Scorpius, distracted as he was, barely noticed when Rose won the bathroom race. He did, however, notice when she came down again. That nightdress, practically clinging to all her curves, made her only harder to resist. Obviously some of those thoughts showed in his face, because Rose gave him a puzzled look.

"What's wrong?" she asked, biting her lower lip. Scorpius mind reeled, searching for something to say. The words that came out, slowly, hesitantly, weren't exactly what he had wanted to say.

"Ah… You know… You're my best friend. You're not a girl in my mind, you're my friend. But then you dress in _that, _and… You look like a girl. It clashes in my mind, somehow", he tried to explain, shrugging, hoping she would let it go.

As if Rose Weasley ever let things go. For a second, she looked absolutely shocked, before a snigger made its way out of her mouth.

"I can't be your friend _and _a girl?" she asked as she kept laughing, not even trying to contain it.

"Of course you can!" he began. "It's just… You didn't have _tits _before fifth year…"

The very moment the words left his mouth, he regretted them. Rose would never let him forget it, and it seemed she would never stop laughing, either.

"Oh… Oh my… _Oh my goodness. _Really, Scor? So is that what you're trying to say? You think I look good? Is that your problem?" she asked, hitting closer to home than she realised. He would deny it to the end, though.

"Of course not, Weasley", he sneered, trying to dissuade her from continuing. He'd better insult her a little, too. "They're too pointy for my taste anyways."

"They..?" Rose began, before she realised what he was talking about. "_Oh!_" she gasped, and then the silly girl began to laugh _again._

* * *

When Scorpius went back to the castle the next morning, he had barely made it through the entrance hall before he had to face Professor Thwaites again.

"Welcome back, Mr Malfoy. I gather your and Miss Weasley's relationship hasn't changed much?" she guessed, although Scorpius suspected it wasn't as much a guess as it was knowledge. He wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of a direct answer, though. It was time to see what she really wanted.

"May I ask why you care? And why do you let us continue? Don't take me wrong – I'm grateful – but I also know you're a Slytherin through and through. There must be something you want from us", he said, trying to see how she reacted to his accusations. Her expression was as if set in stone.

"What makes you believe that I want more than the happiness of my good friend's son?" she asked, her face completely blank. Scorpius narrowed his eyes, trying to see what was behind the façade.

"Very well. Thank you", he suddenly said with a smile, before he left to return to the dungeons.

He didn't buy it. He definitely didn't buy it. She wanted something more, and he was sure as hell going to find out what it was.

* * *

**Ooh, a little drama. What could the Headmistress want from two curfew-breaking students? We'll see…**

**Now, again, I'm so so so sorry for this delay. I really didn't mean to. I hope you're still there, sticking to this story, because that really means a lot. And, again, please review! Every review I receive makes my day, because then I know there is somebody out there reading my story with enough concentration to form an opinion on it. It's a truly wonderful thing to know.**

**By the way, all the things Scorpius spoke of while examining the sapphire are real stuff. I actually checked it up ;) **

**Very well.**

**See you around for the next chapter!**

**Hannoie**


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